Adventures in Hero-sitting
by ScarletEmpress2017
Summary: (Slight AU as I do not believe in season 2) Its 2016 the Young Justice team have become full-fledged members of the Justice League. Many a [mis-] adventure befall the team. What happens when two of them are de-aged during a fight with Klarion? First in the Star'verse
1. What Just Happened?

Taman Negara, Malaysia|

March 10th, 2016|

7:27 PM, UCT|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had happened so fast.

As soon as Zatanna had opened the gate they'd been attacked. The first thing they saw as the dimension opened was a giant fireball flying right for them. The others scattered, but Bloom Blaster managed to redirect it.

The plan was simple. Aqualad, Superboy, Black Dragon, and Kid Flash would draw out Klarion from the pocket dimension; while Zatanna would close the gate and permanently lock Klarion out. Bloom Blaster was to act as Zatanna's protector for the mission's duration; the strenuous use of magic would leave her vulnerable to attack.

Unfortunately, nothing ever really goes according to plan.

Klarion didn't stay far from the gate. As a matter of fact, he stood right in it. It wasn't until he completely missed Zatanna from such close range that Bloom realized why. He was trying to close the portal, re-make Faust, and fight them off. The use of magic was taking a toll on him. Klarion might be good, but Zatanna was better.

...At least in Bloom's opinion.

Now, the success of the mission was largely an accident. One second, Bloom was sending a converged fireball with Black Dragon; the next, she was throwing crystal domes to protect them. It was total chaos.

Then silence.

There was no noise. Not the sound of destruction, not Klarion's annoying laugh; not Superboy's foot falls, not Kid Flash slicing through the air. Not even the faint whipping of Aqualad's water manipulation. _Nothing_. Before Bloom even had a chance to let down her shield Zatanna collapsed.

"Tanna!" Bloom cried.

A lightning-quick examination later revealed that despite her cold sweats and labored breathing, she was just fine.

"It's done," she muttered.

"Um, guys?" Superboy's voice called out. "You might wanna see this!"

Bloom put down the crystalline bubble and surveyed the area. Certain parts of the forest had been scorched and there were a few places where the earth had been singed, but other than that; the rainforest was fine. It wasn't until she spotted Superboy with the other two that she realized the problem.

 _What in the name of all things_ _ **holy**_ _!?_

Bloom Blaster had long since learned to expect crazy things when it came to magic. ...But that didn't stop her from almost completely blanking out at the scene. There, on the ground, lay Kid Flash and Aqualad completely unconscious. Just one problem.

The two of them were toddlers.

"Oh. My. Gosh!"


	2. Explanations

Pacific Ocean|

February 10th, 2016|

9:14 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, recap. Superboy, what the hell happened?" Black Dragon asked, pulling his hair from a ponytail.

The two de-aged heroes had been carefully strapped into the Bio-ship. Zatanna had been knocked out as well and that left the other three to try and sort this mess between themselves. Connor eyed the two de-aged heroes. Their uniforms had shrunk to fit them, but not their gear. Aqualad's water pack was too big for him, as was Kid Flash's goggles. The two were adorable.

Completely bizarre, but adorable.

"I can't really be sure. One second I'm fighting off conjured up bug-beasts; the next, I'm in a crystal bubble — Thanks for that by the way."

Bloom nodded before he continued.

"The next thing I know, I'm looking at two of my teammates barely out of diapers."

Bloom Blaster eyed the two little ones.

"What could have possibly happened? Did he miss-spell or something?"

Black Dragon shook his head.

"We have no way of knowing. Let's just get back to Mount Justice and then see what happens."

Everyone nodded in agreement. With that, Superboy put his full focus back into flying the ship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

February 10th, 2016|

10:05 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightwing took one look at the toddlers in Bloom and Superboy's arms before a lens on his domino mask shifted.

"Start talking."

Superboy handled the mission report while Bloom took Kaldur and then Wally to the Med Bay. The two seemed alright; aside from the obvious they looked fine. ...But Bloom wasn't taking any chances.

Artemis might kill her if something happened to her boyfriend.

She'd just finished examining Wally when Black Dragon came in, carrying Zatanna princess style.

"Are they okay?" He asked, laying her on a gurney.

"Wally checks out. I'm gonna check Kaldur now." She said without looking up.

"You need to check Zatanna and a whole bunch of other things, according to Chicken-wing out there."

Bloom laughed at the nickname in spite of herself.

"Did Birdie have a conniption when he saw Zatanna'd clocked out?" Bloom asked, systematically analyzing Kaldur's body for injury.

"He did. He actually Bat-glared at me when I told him to calm down." Black Dragon said, eyeing the blue energy emitting from Bloom's hands.

"You know him and his marshmallow-y soft-spots for his exes." She said with a smirk. She glanced up and raised a brow. "Hair and eyes."

He picked up a lock of hair, brows furrowed, before changing his hair and eyes back to brown.

"Teeth." Bloom reminded.

He sheepishly morphed his teeth back to their normal human form and allowed the color to return to his face.

"Thanks." He said.

She finished Kaldur's checkup and then turned to Zatanna.

"You're really gonna check Zatanna?" He asked.

"If I don't, Birdie will worry himself to death. And frankly, I'm not gonna be the one to tell Batman why his kid's dead."

Chris snorted a laugh and headed out the door.

"I'm going to my room. Wake me up when Sister gets back." He said.

She shook her head amusedly. The DeMuërto twins loved their sleep.

"'Kay." She called back.

She made quick work of Zatanna's process. She was right, nothing more than exhaustion due to over-exertion. Sighing, she pulled off her mask and reached for her bracelet. Sometimes, she couldn't be thankful enough that her uniform was now nano-cloth. She deactivated the suit-mode and instantly her uniform rescinded into it. She was just reaching for her labcoat when Wally began to stir.

"Ugh... Wha' happened?" He asked groggily.

She glided over to him.

"Hey Wally," she spoke gently. "Do you remember me?"

Wally stared at her, unfazed for a moment. Then he blinked as realization came to him.

"Zirah!" He cried, hugging her.

Zemirah was surprised by the action, but returned the hug warmly.

"Do you remember what happened, Wally?" She asked as he let go.

"Umm... No."

Well that was disappointing.

"Wally, can you do me a really big favor?" She asked before pointing a clear path to a wall. "I need you to run to that wall and back as fast as you can. Can you do that?"

He nodded and before she even blinked he'd tapped the wall and stood in front of her.

"Done!"

Well, that answered one question.

"Well Wally guess what?"

The toddler stared at her eagerly.

"What?!"

"You're a speedster!"

The boy practically had stars in his eyes. The four-year-old was grinning madly.

"You mean... I coul' go a' fast a' the Flash?"

The absolute glee in his voice alone made her smile.

"Well... Yes."

His shouts of joy were what finally woke Kaldur.

"Zebi, Zebi," was the only word he seemed capable of.

She picked him up and cradled him in her arms. He buried his face in her chest and gripped her shirt tightly. He felt disoriented, confused, and a little bit scared.

"'S he okay?" Wally's tiny voice asked. The little boy clambered onto the bed next to them, eyeing his small counterpart worriedly.

"He's fine, just a little scared."

Wally tapped Kaldur's shoulder, gaining his attention. The little Atlantean turned to the speedster.

"What'sa wrong?" Wally asked.

The younger shook his head. He didn't seem to _know_ what was wrong. It just _felt_ wrong.

" _ **Are you alright?**_ " Zemirah asked in what little Atlantean she knew.

" _ **I do not know.**_ " He murmured.

" _ **Well, have to speak English now,**_ " she told him gently.

He simply remained quiet. The silence barely lasted a minute before...

"Zirah, I'm hungry," Wally whined.

Zemirah smirked and raised a brow.

"Of course you are," she said getting up. "Let's get you both something to eat."

She carried Kaldur on her hip and took Wally's hand. They ran into no one on the way to the kitchen. Gamma Squad was the first to return, and the Cave was largely empty. As soon as they reached the kitchen Wally jumped onto the couch in the adjacent rec area.

"Don't touch the lava!" He cried.

She looked around, imagining the lava he was seeing.

"I can fix that."

With that, she pulled water from the air and covered the floor in a sheet of ice. Kaldur and Wally stared at her in awe.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?"

"That's a secret," she said with a grin. "So, what do you want?"

The little speedster began rattling off everything his little heart desired faster than she could register. The Blue Streak lasted all of five seconds and she barely caught the word 'milkshake' before he stopped.

"How about grilled cheese?"

"Tha' works."

With that, she grabbed a pan, loaf of bread and began rummaging through the fridge. She found only the block of her favorite cheddar she'd bought earlier.

Wally _so_ owed her when things got back to normal.

All-in-all, she'd made a total of six sandwiches. Wally ate four and a half while Kaldur barely managed half of one. Being a child again must not be sitting well with him.

"Alright. You've had your dinner. Bed."

Wally pouted.

"Aww! Zirah, can' we stay up a little longer. Please?"

She stared him down and raised a brow.

"Bed."

Grudgingly, the little speedster complied. He zoomed off to the room supplied for him. She quickly followed to the dormitory quarters and went into Kaldur's room. She found a soft shirt that was now far too big for him. He wasn't fussy as she helped him get dressed. However when she tucked him in he called out for her in the saddest voice she'd ever heard.

"Zebi..." he whimpered helplessly.

"What's wrong _mon cher_?" She asked softly.

Her only response was him clinging to her and not letting go.

"Do you want to stay with me then?"

He nodded and quietly they made their way to her room. She lay him down on her bed and fished her music box from her bedside table drawer. She wound it up and set it next down. The translucent ballerina began twirling on the magnetic base to a lamellophone version of " _Cantarella_ ". She lay down and before she even knew what happened, she was fast asleep.


	3. Problems at Breakfast

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

7:08 AM EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah woke to falling off of her bed. Groaning, she sat up, wondering why she fell. She took one look at the form on her bed sleeping soundly and thought:

 _Whose kid is this?_

The memories of the day before came flooding back to her. She stared at him, slightly awestruck. She hoped Zatanna could restore him and Wally to normal. It was too weird having toddlers in the mountain. Closing her eyes, she reached out for Wally's life force signature. She found it quickly, but found it was somewhat altered. She figured it was a side effect of magic exerting itself on his body. Pulling the covers back over Kaldur, she followed Wally's life sign.

He was in the kitchen of all places.

"Wally what are you doing?" Zemirah asked eyes wide.

"Makin' breakfast," he answered casually.

Making a mess was more like it. There were smashed eggs on the floor, joined by two pots and an overturned pan along with a purple stain in the ice from the night before. (She was surprised it hadn't melted by now.) The counter was coated in flour and there was caster sugar in Wally's hair.

"Wally, kiddo, you're supposed to eat breakfast; not throw it all over the place. What were you trying to make?"

"Purple pancakes," he said with a shrug.

Well, that explained the stain on the floor.

"Mm, I'd help you, but you've wasted most of the flour and other ingredients. I don't think we'll be able to make pancakes again."

Wally pouted, whining haplessly, "Bu' I wan'ed to make breakfast for everybody."

"Kiddo, if I were you, I'd be more worried about what you've done to M'gann and Caroline's kitchen."

He looked around, finally realizing the mess he'd made. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, occu'pational hazard?" He shyly reasoned.

Zemirah gave him a half smile, "Tell you what kid; if you clean up, I'll make breakfast."

He nodded in agreement and started picking up eggshells. He threw them away before speeding off and returning with a portable vacuum.

"What're you gonna make anyway?" He asked.

"We don't have enough for pancakes... I think porridge is our only option at this point." She said.

Wally paused, looking up and making a face, "Yuck! Porridge? No thanks. Gross!"

Of course this toddler was picky.

Zemirah gave a knowing smile, "It's tasty the way I make it, Walls. Trust me."

Wally gave in quickly and, with no small amount of dramatics, crawled onto the counter and began vacuuming the flour. Zemirah chuckled and turned to pick up the pots and pan of the icy ground.

She took out one of the bigger pots Caroline usually reserved for pasta and went to the fridge for milk. With so many people living in the Mt. Justice there was a lot of variety. Not to mention a lot of everything. She took the jug of lactose free milk and set the whole thing out to get to room temperature.

Looks like they needed to go grocery shopping... Again.

"Do we even have cream of wheat?" She muttered.

"Wha wazzat?" Wally asked, looking up from the counter.

"I was asking if we even have cream of wheat." She repeated.

"What?"

This would take a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

8:10 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaldur woke up unusually groggy and confused. He rolled over, inhaling deeply before moving to get up. The smell was what threw him off. It was light and flowery. His bed smelt like musk and linen he was accustomed to. At first he was worried he'd been taken captive in some sort of mission or battle gone sour. Then he calmed down and realized that if he had, his chambers would likely not smell very nice. Or feel so comfortable... Lazily, he opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. There were posters of the Paris Opera House and the New York Ballet as well as framed sheet music. There were lyrics scrawled on one wall in familiar cursive. This was Zemirah's room.

Question was why was he here?

He got out of bed only to tumble to the carpet. There wasn't any pain, but the jolt brought tears to his eyes much to his chagrin. He stood up, inspecting himself for any injuries. That's when it hit him. The room was much, much bigger than he remembered.

Had he shrunk?

He scurried over to the full body mirror in the corner. The sight that greeted him shocked him. Rounded face, curlier hair, and laughably short height. Great Amphitrite, he was a child again! Perhaps that's why his current solitude was quickly becoming absolutely terrifying. He dashed over to the door only to discover he was now far too short to reach the access panel. He was trapped!

He began pounding on the door and calling to be let out. After a few minutes of this his calls became more frequent and his knocking more desperate. After a few more minutes, his desperation won out and he collapsed against the door, sobbing.

He wasn't there too long, as less than a minute later, the door slid open and he was met with brown combat boots. He looked up, green met alien blue as Connor's face turned to a sympathetic frown.

"Hey now, what's wrong?" He said, gently picking him up.

Kaldur could only give a few small hiccups as he tried to stem his tears. How embarrassing! To be found in tears from simply being alone! His efforts were in vain as he could not stop, no matter what he did. Connor did his best to soothe him as he headed toward the kitchen. They had barely been inside when Zemirah rushed to his side, horror on her face.

"I thought you were asleep! I'm so sorry! May I?" She rushed, gesturing to take Kaldur from Connor's arms.

He carefully handed him over, and Zemirah quickly calmed him down, rocking and bouncing him and murmuring apologies to him. He slowly stopped, his breathing regulating, eyes still glassy.

"You're really good with kids," M'gann said.

That's when Kaldur noticed her, Chris, Caroline, Wally and Chokichi all sitting at the breakfast bar.

Great.

"Of course she's good with kids. Back when we were younger and our summer camp counselors needed help with the little kids, we'd always get put in charge."

Zemirah smirked, putting Kaldur at her hip and returning to her meal.

"Carolie never liked it that much. Not that she didn't like the kids, but she wasn't getting paid for it, so..."

"That and those kids were straight up rude," Caroline added.

"Not all of them were bad," Zemirah said, giving Kaldur over to M'gann.

"Maybe not to you, but they had some kinda attitude problem with me," Caroline shot back.

Zemirah filled a small bowl with cream colored mush, "Whose example did you think they were following?"

"Are you implying that I was the cause?" Caroline asked with a playful smirk.

Zemirah hummed in response and handed Kaldur over to M'gann before measuring out a portion of porridge for him. (Wally was on his third bowl.) She then picked him up and rested him on her lap.

"Can you feed yourself Kallie?"

Kaldur picked up the spoon and took some of the off-white-and-beige substance. He willed himself not to drop it, but his previous coordination was no longer there. The utensil slipped from his grip and clattered to the still-iced ground.

"I guess not..." Zemirah said, grabbing another spoon Caroline offered.

She took a spoonful and brought it to his lips.

"Say 'ah'..."

Kaldur made no move to open his mouth and even shifted his head away from the food.

"C'mon now, don't be stubborn..." She tried again.

Again he refused.

"Kaldur, do not start with me..." She warned a final time.

At this Kaldur looked up, easily recognizing her tone and obeying. He complacently ate the mushy substance, satisfied that the taste was not terrible.

"There, now was that so hard?" She asked her tone vaguely pleased.

The Atlantean said nothing and continued to eat without struggle.

"Is Tanna awake yet?" Zemirah asked.

No-one said anything.

Alright, so no.

"O-kay... So, what are these two gonna wear in the meantime?"

Everyone turned to look at the de-aged heroes. The two stared back. Zemirah sniggered at their response.

"Hey, Carolie, care to try your hand at nursery clothes?"


	4. Clothes and Shopping

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

9:46 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah had no idea how it had come to this.

One second, she was adjusting her blouse, the next she was on the floor, an odd weight on her back.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, I am so sorry!"

...That didn't _sound_ like a Flash.

"Didi, _A-B-C-D-E-F-G, get your fat butt off of me_." She sang rigidly, irritation clear.

The civvie-clad acrobat promptly rolled off of her, sliding on the (miraculously still solid) ice. She pulled herself into a kneeling position, glaring at the eldest Bat all the while.

"What happened to that so-called 'perfect balance' Richie-boy?" She all but growled out.

"Ice, apparently," he said dryly.

She eyed the floor. Dick had always been great at keeping his balance, even when having to walk a high-wire at over fifty feet high. _With no net_. The fact that a sheet of ice had the perfectly-coordinated acrobat slipping and flailing as badly as Wally at age fifteen was hilarious.

...Well it would be, if he hadn't accidentally knocked her down with him.

"Well you-"

Zemirah was cut off by a childish shriek and a giggle. She looked down when something bumped into her legs. She was greeted by freckles and a cheeky grin.

"Zirah! Look a' my shirt!" Wally cried excitedly.

Zemirah smiled and picked up the energetic four-year-old. His visibly over-sized black T-shirt was decorated with electric storms in an interesting pattern.

"It's very nice kiddo... But where are the clothes Carol was supposed to make for you?" She asked, putting him on her hip.

At that moment said seamstress and Connor strolled in, Connor with a small Atlantean in his arms.

"Wally, I told you not to run off without us," Connor gently admonished.

"Whoops, sorry Con!" He said, not sorry at all.

"Zebi, Zebi!" Kaldur called reaching for the elementalist.

Zemirah carefully put the speedster down and took Kaldur in her arms. The Atlantean nuzzled her neck affectionately as she gave a half-smile and turned to the pyro-cat.

"What happened to their clothes?" She asked.

Caroline frowned at the over-sized garments, "I don't have enough material to make proper clothes for them."

Zemirah bit her lip, "Oi, that's a problem."

"Nigh'wing!" Wally suddenly cried, barreling into the Bat.

And that's when it hit her.

"Didi; you, M'gann and Connor can watch them while Carolie, Chris, Cho-san, Ban-san and I go shopping."

Caroline looked affronted.

"Um, _why_ is Bankori going with us?" She asked.

Zemirah raised a brow, "Do you really want to leave Bankori alone with them when M'gann is around?"

"No."

Recently, Bankori had taken to flirting shamelessly at M'gann. It was all as a joke, he'd made _that_ crystal clear. (He did not want to deal with an angry Kryptonian.) Nonetheless, the things he said had a tendency to be... Well, not very child appropriate to say the least.

He was going, no questions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rhodes Mall, Happy Harbor|

March 11th, 2016|

10:11 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And I'm here _why_ exactly?" Bankori asked annoyedly.

"Because Artemis will kill me if I let you corrupt her boyfriend." Zemirah answered.

Bankori rolled his eyes, "Oh, please, I'm not gonna-".

He was cut off by four flat stares.

"...Okay, so would corrupt them."

His companions nodded mutely and returned to Caroline for instructions.

"Alright Z, you and Zander head down and get some toys because, let's face it: they could be stuck like that for a while. Chokichi and I will get sewing supplies and fabric. We'll meet at the mall entrance in an hour."

"'K. Ban-san, you're with me." She said, headed toward the mall's toy department.

"Wait, why am _I_ going with the Baby?" Bankori asked incredulously.

Zemirah clenched her jaw at the irritating nickname. The eldest Anarchy had taken to calling her the diminutive names due to her being the youngest of the group. She turned on her heel and glared at the angel.

"You're going with me because if you go with Caroline you might not come back in one piece. Now you're either coming willingly, or I'm putting _you_ on a _leash_." She said curtly.

Bankori moved to make a comment, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't- just... Don't," Chris warned.

With that the reaper dragged the angel along.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 11th, 2016|

10:21 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah eyed the toddler section of the shoppe. Her eyes immediately lit up at the sight.

"Chris, grab a basket."

The reaper silently obeyed and returned to the front of the store.

"Wait, where's Bankori?" She muttered to herself.

She moved to the check-out desk and there he was. Flirting with the cashier like his life depended on it.

 _Maybe I shoulda just trussed him up like a turkey from the top of Mount Justice,_ she thought. _At least_ _ **then**_ _he'd stay out of trouble._

Silently, with stealth that would've made Batman proud, snuck up behind them.

"What are you doing Anarchy?" She asked flatly.

The angel and the cashier turned, looking surprised at the girl.

"What does it look like kid?"

Zemirah looked unimpressed.

"Oh, good, 'cause I'm about to send this picture of it to Tanga right now."

Bankori cautiously excused himself and turned to the elementalist.

"You wouldn't," he said.

"Try me."

"Is that a threat?"

"I don't know. Aren't you supposed to be helping?"

"I am not about to go shopping in a damned toy store with you, little girl."

"You're about to become single if you don't."

The two were locked in a stand-off for a moment before Bankori lunged for the phone, but she was just a little faster. With his greater height and weight he got a hold of the device, but it was blank and unresponsive by the time it was in his grasp.

"What the-?"

"I turned it off."

"Damn."

The angel quickly turned the phone back on. However, he was met with a surprise when he did.

" _Enter password?!_ "

"If you come along like you're supposed to, I _might_ tell you what it is."

Bankori glared harshly at her while she raised a brow. He walked up to her and whispered irately.

"You know I can kick your sorry ***."

"Humph, you do that, and you'll have my best friend, her brother, _your_ brother, and a very angry toddler on your hands. To say the least."

Bankori angrily shoved the phone in his pocket and angrily snatch the basket from Chris who'd just come back. The youngest reaper stared in relative shock as the blond angel stomping away and muttering to himself in Japanese.

"What's his problem?"

"Himself. What's he saying?"

Chris' eyes widened at a particular grunt.

"You don't wanna know."

Well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 11th, 2016|

10:21 AM EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Should we really have left my brother with them, Lexi-koi?"

"Relax, Kichi-koi," Caroline said good-naturedly. "They can handle the idiot just fine."

"I know they can, but they're in public. Zemirah and Zander actually behave themselves."

"Chokichi, don't worry. Zemirah's not gonna back down from him. And if it comes down to it, she can just kick him where the sun don't shine."

She reached out to feel the texture of a purple bolt of satin. She turned to the clerk behind them.

"Do you have this in blue?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 11th, 2016|

11:21 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sheesh Z! Did you buy the whole store?" Caroline cried.

Zemirah rolled her eyes. So she might have gone a _little_ overboard...

"Look out!" Chris shouted as a good half of the boxes in his arms tumbled down.

...Alright, so maybe a lot overboard.

Chokichi shook his head and caught four, while Bankori caught the rest.

"Geez little brother, I thought you were stronger than that," Caroline laughed.

"Hey, you try carrying three dozen boxes and bags all at once," he pouted.

The others laughed as the angels handed the merchandise back to the young reaper.

Chris groaned

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

11:46 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow, that round trip took about two hours," Dick said.

He got no response as the quintet stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the absolute _**chaos**_ that had erupted in the Cave. There were some _very_ unidentifiable stains on the wall. The floor was slightly flooded with some pink-ish liquid. Dick himself looked like he got hit by a cyclone, hair a mess and civvies slightly torn. And... Was that _toilet paper_ hanging from the rafters!?

"What the..."

Just then a haggard looking M'gann came in trying to console a crying Kaldur followed by an equally disheveled Connor. The Boy of Steel was calm, but looked like something akin to a train wreck on a good day. (Interpret that how you will.)

"Didi, what in the name of all things holy happened here?" Zemirah asked.

Before the acrobat had a chance to answer a red-and-black blur zipped past them and back out.

"...He's really getting the hang of his super-speed..." Dick said tiredly.

Zemirah sighed while the other four struggled to process the sheer gravity of the disaster that was their home. The crystal-kineticist took command of the situation.

"Chris, put the stuff we bought in my room and then your sister's stuff in her studio."

The dragon boy snapped out of it and nodded, scurrying off.

"Bankori, give me my phone."

In his dazed state, the angel complied. Zemirah's voice softened to a request as she spoke next.

"M'gann, give Kaldur to me please."

The martian slowly made her way over, her exhaustion clear. Kaldur's wails waned into whimpers and choked gasps. M'gann gently gave over the small Atlantean and nearly collapsed. Had Connor not rushed up to catch her, she surely would've hit the ground.

"Connor, take M'gann to the Infirmary."

The half-Kryptonian picked up the red-head bridal style and headed for the medical area.

"Caroline, go start on the clothes. Chokichi you help her."

At this point she was dialing like mad. She finished the number and took a deep breath.

 _ **"WALLACE RUDOLPH WEST! GET YOUR LITTLE SPEEDSTER BEHIND IN HERE OR I'M CALLING YOUR AUNT!"**_


	5. Dreams and Reality

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

11:46 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _ **"WALLACE RUDOLPH WEST! GET YOUR LITTLE SPEEDSTER BEHIND IN HERE OR I'M CALLING YOUR AUNT!"**_

The red-haired toddler zoomed in before anyone could blink.

"NOOOO! _Please_ don't call Aunt Iris!" He begged. "I promise I'll clean up the mess."

"And?"

"...And apologize to Kaldur for making him cry. But it _was_ an accident!"

"And?"

"...And? And... What?"

"And apologize to M'gann and Connor."

"Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

12:36 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There, done," the little speedster proclaimed, giving the wall a firm pat.

"And what do we say?" Zemirah asked.

"Sorry everybody," he said.

The present company chorused their acceptance. Dick plopped himself onto the couch with a sigh. Predictably, Wally mimicked him with a giggle.

"Dick, watch some TV with him. If he gets restless, give him something to do. What that is, is up to you. It could be chemical equations for all I care!"

The Romani boy looked grinned, but nodded nonetheless. He took Wally's hand and guided him to the den.

"Bankori... Make yourself useful." Zemirah sighed before turning away and walking towards the Med bay.

The blond followed.

"Boy, what are you doing?" She asked without stopping.

"You said to make myself useful, so what's more useful than medical skills?"

She paused and stared him down. The blond looked strangely arrogant. Then again, that wasn't really unusual.

"Fine."

With the idiot angel in tow, she headed towards the Med bay.

"So... What's your favorite color?" The blond asked.

"Red, you know that."

He paused and was quiet, then spoke again.

"…Any particular shade of red?"

Almost instantaneously, she turned and cut him off. There was frantic curiosity and slight panic emanating from him and she had an inkling as to why.

"Bankori give me back my phone."

He gingerly handed over the device.

 _How the heck did he even get this?_

"You still haven't deleted the picture."

"What picture?"

For the first time she ever could remember; he looked ashamed, "The one... The one where I... I was flirting with the cashier."

Oh. _That_ picture. The reality of the situation was that there _was_ no picture. She'd been bluffing the whole time. However, the shame on his face was no farce. It was very much real.

"Do you promise not to do it again Bankori?"

Bankori felt immediately nervous. And somewhat torn. He didn't know if he would be capable of keeping that promise. Flirting with (everybody) was a bad habit he'd learned to the point of instinctual. He didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep. Breaking a promise to Zemirah was a _very_ bad idea.

"Alright, how about this: I'll help keep you in check. And I promise I won't tell Tanga… _This_ time."

The blond eagerly nodded. Then he ran ahead to the Med bay grinning and flailing like small child.

 _And I thought there were only_ two _toddlers in the mountain. Clearly, I was wrong._

When she entered the Med bay M'gann was levitating above one of the beds meditating. Every now and again she would falter and Connor would catch her.

"Can any of you tell me what happened when we were gone?"

M'gann immediately pointed at Connor who looked like he'd been thrown under the proverbial bus.

"It was fine at first. Kaldur had fallen asleep after a few minutes. I guess he was bored. Dick left to go check on some file or the other. He was only gone for a minute before…"

Zemirah shook her head, "Let me guess… All hell broke loose?"

Connor nodded. Just then, Bankori handed her a lab coat.

"Oh, you do pay attention," she joked.

The blond scoffed and checked his phone.

"I'm out," he said moving towards the door.

The other three raised their brows as he left.

"Well, that bout of helpfulness ended quickly," Zemirah noted.

"What was that all about?" Connor asked.

"Just Bankori being Bankori. He said he was gonna help me, and then he left."

The other two rolled their eyes at this and awaited Zemirah's verdict as she began examining them for injury. It was at least five minutes later that she gave Connor the all clear. Another ten minutes later and she had finished M'gann's.

"Well, Miss, you're good to go. Just do me a favor and take it easy."

With that she turned moved to Zatanna's bed. She'd checked on the girl earlier, and she was fine. She checked again and she was still in tip-top shape.

"Why aren't you waking up?" she muttered.

"Magic is weird," was her answer.

She pivoted to find Connor hadn't left. He looked concerned. Zatanna was his friend, and this was definitely not normal, if he went by experience. But… he didn't know everything. Magic was a very strange and enigmatic thing. Her resting could very well be a good thing.

"She's supposed to rest after exerting herself like that."

"I know that, but… This is unusual, even for her. She's never slept this long outside of physical trauma. What if… What if Klarion somehow did something to her and I can't tell?"

Her worries were valid. She couldn't sense magic. Nor could she sense its effects. It was a complete crux to her.

"That's not possible Zemirah; you were with her the whole time. You raised a shield and those things are almost as strong as I am. Nothing could've gotten through those"

Zemirah looked back at the bed.

 _But what if something did?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

1:16 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah was with Dick, Kaldur and Wally in the lounge; the latter two lying on the floor sharing a box of crayons and paper. The former were sitting on the couch. Periodically, the two designated "grown-ups" would look up from what they were doing to check on them.

Children and quietness were often a very hazardous combination.

"Done!" Wally suddenly shouted.

The two looked up to see the red-head hurriedly get up and then skitter across the floor to meet them. He excitedly held up his paper and shook it at them. He began babbling at speedster levels and Zemirah thought she heard the word 'Look' before Dick managed to calm him down.

"Alright, we're looking. Now slow down!" he gently admonished.

Zemirah took the sheet and carefully analyzed it. It was very understandable for a four-year-old's handiwork. There were two green hills sparsely splotched with pink dots and blobs flowers, she surmised. The sky was a very pale blue and there were trees on either hilltop. Surprisingly there was no sun. Standing in between the two green mounds was a white figure with a long mass of yellow over top. She quickly showed it to Dick, who smiled.

"It's very interesting Walls. I like it. Why don't you tell us about what you drew?"

Wally nodded and clambered onto the couch to sit in between the two. Then he invited Kaldur over as well. The little Atlantean nodded and got up. Zemirah helped him up and he sat on her lap, leaning on her snuggling up to her warmth.

"So, tell us about your drawing Wally." She said, hold Kaldur close so he wouldn't fall.

"It's something I saw in a dream last night!" he said excitedly.

Zemirah looked surprised. From what she knew, people rarely remembered dreams; much less a child with an admittedly short attention span.

"I was running really _really_ fas' all over the world. I was in desserts, woods, cities; I was even running over th' ocean!"

The two nodded while Kaldur listened in rapt attention.

"It was kinda funny though, 'cause I was bigger in my dream…"

 _He dreamt about his normal self?_

She motioned for him to continue.

"Anyways, I was running. An' I was going so fast I' was like no-one could even see me. But, tha' couldn't be right because it was really loud. No matter where I went it was loud. After a while, the faster I went the louder the weird noise got. An' after that no ma'er where I went it was like the lights were broken and the sun was turning off. It got darker an' darker an' _darker_ …"

He paused, looking down at his drawing for a minute.

"An' that's when I ran past this place. It was like the sun had turned back on an' the noises stopped." He paused. "Bu' only for a really short second because I accidentally ran right past it. Then I stopped. I turned around an' I ran back. It was really pretty, like I was in a whole 'nother world. That's when I saw _her_ ," he said, pointing to the figure in his artwork.

"She had long hair like sunshine an' she was wearing a long white dress. I couldn't see her face, bu' I knew that she was really pretty. Like, the prettiest girl in the whole wide world!"

Zemirah and dick smiled. Then Dick spoke up.

"Really, Walls? The _whole_ wide world? The world's a pretty big place."

The young speedster nodded fervently and again pointed at the girl.

"She is; I swear she is!"

That's when there was a loud crash and heavy footfalls. Then someone burst into the room.

"WALLY!" they cried.

The boy looked up and gasped; eyes wide as dinner plates and mouth open. He blinked before finally reacting.

"It's _you_ …" he whispered.

Zemirah on the other hand was a mixture of shock and nervous horror.

"Artemis.."


	6. Revenge is a dish best served Small

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

1:26 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _"Artemis…"_

The blonde stared, completely shocked. Sitting in between two of her dearest friends, sat her boyfriend.

 _Approximately four years of age._

When Artemis arrived at the Cave, Connor had told her that they were in the lounge and something had happened to Wally; it was all she heard before tearing through the mountain in terrified panic. Despite all the horrifying scenarios that ran through her head in that time span, nothing quite matched the picture she was seeing. She was both relieved that it wasn't as bad as she was afraid it might've been, and absolutely stunned with what it was. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Wha what happened to you?" she said so quietly it was barely heard.

The boy was so transfixed he _didn't_ hear her. Instead of answering, he began to vibrate in utter excitement. He grabbed his best friend's hand and shook him almost violently for someone of his age.

"It's her! Do you see? Do you see? It's _her_!" he babbled.

He began to talk so fast it sounded like faint buzzing to their ears. I wasn't until Dick picked him up and told him to slow down that he calmed down enough to stop vibrating. Good thing too, because the couch looked as though it had skid marks from where his hands and legs touched the fabric. He looked back Artemis and then back to Dick.

"You see? I told you so!" he smugly proclaimed.

Zemirah laughed. She got carefully placed Kaldur on the couch before picking back up Wally's picture and walking over to Artemis. All the while, Wally was gloating over his victory, whatever it was. She handed the paper to the blonde.

"Apparently, he dreamt about you last night," she said.

"Me?" Artemis answered, even as she took the drawing into her hands.

Wally was never the best artist, but the markings on the paper were clear as day to her. That was definitely her. No-one else Wally knew had almost ridiculously long blonde hair.

"He also claimed that you're, and I quote: 'The prettiest girl in the whole wide world'." Zemirah continued.

In spite of herself, Artemis flushed bright pink. She smiled down at the paper. Zemirah put her hands on her hips.

"Wow. Even when magic-ed into a four-year-old, he _still_ manages to charm you into a stupor," she remarked with amusement.

Artemis glared at the elementalist. However, her slight smile softened the look, "I am not stupefied, mind you."

Zemirah smirked, "And I'm the queen of Sheba."

The two turned back to the others. Wally was now on the floor, hiding behind Dick's legs, having a hushed argument with the Bat. Kaldur was watching disinterestedly.

"What are you two squabbling about?" Zemirah asked.

"Nothing," they chorused.

Zemirah laughed. No matter how old either of them was; Dick and Wally had a strange penchant for getting into trouble. It was hard to remember who the bad influence on whom even was.

"Yeah right," Artemis deadpanned.

At that Wally hid himself entirely behind the older boy. Kaldur sat up straight upon noticing this. He eyed the two bicker in hushed tones for a few moments before carefully sliding off the couch. Zemirah eyed his movements, her instincts tell her to watch carefully. Kaldur walked over to Wally, grabbed his hand, and pulled him out from behind Dick. He then proceeded to drag him towards the two girls, changing tactics by pushing him from behind when the red-head dug his heels into the ground. After a minute or so of struggle, Wally was now standing in front of Artemis and Kaldur had made his way back to the couch. Wally stared at Artemis, the said blonde staring back confusedly. After a few _very_ awkward moments, the boy vegan to vibrate nervously.

"BYE!" he yelled before zipping out of the room and off to who-knows-where.

As soon as the speedster was out of the room Kaldur began giggling madly. Zemirah, Artemis, and Dick stared at the boy like he'd grown a second head. That's when Zemirah picked up smug satisfaction from him in small bursts. A lot of times in the Cave, pranks had a tendency to go bad and jokes were often misinterpreted. As a teen and young adult, Kaldur always discouraged vengeance among his teammates, and for good reasons.

…But apparently, tiny Kaldur had no problems dishing it out.

Zemirah facepalmed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

1:56 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now where the heck did he go?"

Zemirah eyed Artemis. The woman was half-hysterical. After Wally ran off the two went in search of him. Dick had put Kaldur down for a nap and was already searching different level. Zemirah reached out for his life force signature. He was in his souvenir room.

Uh-oh.

Now, under normal circumstances, that wouldn't be a problem. But given Wally's current state of mind and body, it was fairly dangerous. There were quite a few weapons squirreled away in there. Moreover, when Wally got back to normal, he'd be quite upset if he found that his precious souvenirs had been damaged.

"Souvenir room. Move."

They got there in record time, with Artemis all but kicking the door open. They found him on the floor hugging his knees.

"Wally?" Zemirah softly called.

The boy turned at the sound of her voice. Then gasped and snapped his head back when he realized she wasn't alone. Artemis was slightly hurt. Was he afraid of her? Zemirah put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a backwards glance before moving towards Wally.

"Hey Wally," she said softly, sitting cross-legged next to him.

The boy muttered something unintelligible into his arms and she smiled good-naturedly.

"Do you wanna tell me why you don't want to talk to her?"

He looked back at Artemis and then motioned for Zemirah to come closer. She leaned down so as he whispered his reasoning.

"I don't wanna say something stupid to her."

Zemirah bit her lip to keep from laughing. Well, that ship had _long_ since sailed the world and come back again.

 _If only he knew…_

"She won't care if you say something stupid Wally," she explained. Then she lowered her voice to a faint whisper. "In fact, she already likes you a whole lot."

Wally immediately brightened, "Really?"

Zemirah smiled and nodded. Somehow, that was all he needed to get off the floor and strut over to her.

"Hi, I'm Wally!" he introduced cheerily.

Artemis was frozen for a moment. She didn't really know what to do. How was one supposed to react to their de-aged boyfriend introducing himself to you? Then her face softened to a warm smile. She got down on one knee and quietly presented herself.

"Hi Wally, I'm Artemis."

Wally positively beamed and hugged her tightly. Again Artemis froze before returning his embrace. Very carefully, she picked herself off the ground, the small speedster still in her arms. Zemirah couldn't help but grin. Artemis then turned to her, a somewhat puzzled look on her face.

"So, _how_ did this happen exactly?"

Oh boy.


	7. Bright Ideas

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

2:16 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three of them were back in the lounge, Wally amicably sitting on Artemis' lap, and Zemirah sitting next to them. The crystal-kineticist explained what has happened as best as she could. All the while, Wally was quietly playing with the blonde's hair.

"…After that we came back here."

"Wait, so you mean to tell me that Klarion turned Wally and Kaldur into kids _on purpose_?" Artemis asked, her brows raised.

"Yes… Well, no… Maybe; we can't really be sure without Zatanna."

Artemis became saddened with the mention of her friend. Zatanna was an incredible magician. She'd done some things that, according to senior Justice Leaguers, Zatara hadn't mastered until she was born. Despite all that, with all the crazy happening all at once, it was hard not to worry about her. Klarion was annoying, but unpredictable and still a threat. It was times like these that she wished Doctor Fate were more… useful. The fact that he showed up, simply to inform them of Klarion's plan _and_ had them deal with him; made him seem like he thought himself a high-and-mighty demi-god who thought such tasks beneath him.

Or maybe it was just Artemis.

Either way, it only served to make Zatara's use as a vessel seem that much more unfair. He'd want to be there for his daughter. Admittedly, he might come off as an overbearing mother-hen, but he cared a lot about Zatanna. After all, how many people did she know would lay down their life in exchange for another's? Just then, Wally gave her hair a particularly hard tug. She grimaced and looked down. Wally gave an apologetic look for having disturbed her thoughts and she remembered. How many times had Kid Flash rushed into burning buildings? Into crumbling houses and right under falling objects just to save somebody? Heck, how many times had _she_ nearly blown up just to help some snotty kid? She knew a lot of people who were willing to risk death to help others, one of them her own reflection.

She probably just didn't know many fathers who'd do the same.

Zemirah carefully watched as different emotions rolled through the blonde. Worry, fear, annoyance, more worry, puzzlement, wonder, pain and sadness. It amazed her to no end how volatile and fleeting human emotions could sometimes be. And she could understand it. She herself had been called moody on more than one occasion. She looked down at the red-head in Artemis' lap. His emotions were something strange. Normally, his feelings were steady as a rock; his stubbornness a likely contributor. However, ever since he'd been de-aged, his emotions sometimes fluxed. Like a little while ago. He'd never, _ever_ been nervous around Artemis. Not before they were dating and certainly not after. With not much else to work with, she had to assume that whatever magic had been thrust upon him was also significantly affecting his mindset. What that meant she could not be sure. Not without Zatanna.

"Where's Doctor Fate when you need him?" she muttered to no-one in particular.

"Anywhere but here, apparently,"Artemis quipped.

Zemirah rolled her eyes at the joke, not really finding it funny. Absently she thought about what they could do. Klarion had seemingly disappeared, but with no way to assure he couldn't try his stunt again, without Kid Flash and Aqualad; without someone who could play on _his_ field, they could be at a very steep disadvantage. Even Kaldur's limited knowledge of any sort of magic might be useful. If only the League worked with more experienced Homo Magi…

Wait…

That was it!

"I remember Zatanna mentioned something about her mother being a proficient Homo Magi, maybe she could help!"

Artemis opened her mouth to say something, but Wally interjected before she could.

"Zat'a has a mommy?" he asked bluntly, genuinely curious.

The two girls stared at him, wide-eyed and sufficiently stunned.

…Then they burst out laughing.

Wally stared innocently and confused as the two cackled madly. Artemis was laughing so hard that she was shaking, and Zemirah was gasping for air. When they finally settled down, Zemirah recovered first.

"Of course Zatanna has a mommy Wally! You have a mommy too, you know." She said.

The tiny speedster giggled in realization, "Oh yeah."

"Zatanna did mention her a couple of times. Sindella, I think," Artemis amended. "But Zatanna also said she had disappeared without a trace a long time ago."

Zemirah scoffed, "Maybe they just weren't looking in the right places. You've seen what magic-capable humans have can do. For all we know she could be hiding in another dimension safe and sound."

"And maybe she doesn't want to be found. Maybe she just wanted to leave."

The elementalist just couldn't believe that.

"Oh please, there is no way someone as kind and loving as Giovanni Zatara would marry someone who would just up and leave without a good reason," she dismissed getting up.

She doubted her own words.

 _But it wouldn't be the first time._

Artemis carefully placed Wally on the couch, before standing up herself. She ignored the red-head's protests as she turned to face Zemirah.

"Alright, let's say she _is_ alive and she _is_ hiding out in some magical pocket dimension or the other, just _how_ are we supposed to find her?"

Zemirah went quiet at that.

 _Okay, maybe I didn't think that through…_

"Where's Dickie?" Wally suddenly asked.

The archer and elementalist were brought out of there stand-off by his comment. They looked around, the eldest Bat hadn't returned. They hadn't thought anything of it since Dick's footsteps had long since become almost totally silent, and thought he had comeback after not finding Wally. Clearly, they'd been wrong.

"Yeah, where is Didi anyway?" Zemirah echoed.

"I thought he put Kaldur to sleep," Artemis mused.

 _Supposedly…_

Zemirah could see that their resident Atlantean had a penchant for mischief that was clearly unrestrained by his child form. The likelihood of Dick actually getting him to sleep was quite slim. Meaning…

"We'd better go check on them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

2:43 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trio quietly made their way to Kaldur's room, the older two with worried looks. Very quietly, Zemirah opened the door. Surprisingly, Kaldur was sound asleep on his bed, a blond and sky-blue mass on the sea of royal blue sheets. What was even more surprising (and far funnier) was the fact that Dick was also asleep on the floor, his torso and head resting against one side of the bed. She wasn't actually all that surprised that he was asleep. Dick was a night-owl with his work as Nightwing and more-than-occasional patrols with Batman. Besides that, he slept very little, and trained to be a police officer during the day. Really, she was surprised that he was capable of functioning like a normal human being on even a semi-regular basis. She bit her lip to keep from sniggering, knowing how light a sleeper he was.

Unfortunately, Wally had no such decorum.

The boy laughed loudly, waking the older boy. Instinctively, carp-skipped up and stood in a fighting stance, a bird-a-rang at the ready. He relaxed upon noticing there was no threat and glared at the door. Wally immediately covered his mouth with both hands and backed up behind Zemirah. Zemirah herself was slightly petrified. After being subjected to the infamous Bat-glare on more than several occasions (and being able to read the emotions behind it), it had very little effect on her. The fact that their eyes were usually obscured helped. …But whether the glare had any malevolent backing or not, it seemed to retain its full power when un-obscured by a mask or shades.

Like now.

Dick softened his gaze when he realized he'd actually used 'the glare' on her. He hadn't meant to. Zemirah had her moments, but more often than not she was docile and the sweetest person to be around.

"Sorry, I didn't Sorry…" he muttered.

Zemirah blinked out of her fright-induced daze, "It… It's okay, I- I know you didn't mean to." She murmured quietly.

Dick sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. Wally took that moment to peek out from behind Zemirah, a repentant look on his face.

"Sorry Dickie…" he murmured.

The older boy mentally-kicked himself yet again. He didn't just Bat-glare at the flower-child, oh no. He Bat-glared at the flower-child _and_ his de-aged best friend. Wonderful. With a friend like him, who would need enemies? He carefully walked over to them getting down on eye-level with the speedster.

"I am so, _so_ sorry Wally. I didn't mean to scare you. Both of you," he finished looking up at the elementalist.

"S'okay…"Wally responded, smile slowly returning.

Satisfied with that answer he turned to Zemirah.

"So, what'd I miss?"


	8. Masterminds

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

3:00 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What?"

"I asked you what you know about Sindella," Zemirah repeated.

Dick moved to say something, but the de-aged speedster beat him to it.

"Zirah wants to try to find Zat'a's mommy," he explained with a megawatt grin. "Zirah thinks Sin'ella can help us."

Dick looked somewhat affronted while the other two stifled their laughter at the mispronounced name. He took a second to just stare at Zemirah. He'd known the girl since he was fourteen and therefore knew she was just a little bit crazy.

He didn't think she was _this_ crazy.

"Bloom, Sindella left a long time ago. The League tried to help find her but she wasn't even passively involved like Iris. Zatara stopped looking for her before Zatanna was even a year old."

Artemis frowned at the knowledge. That certainly didn't sound like Zatara. She looked over at Zemirah whose mouth was fixed in an unhappy quirk.

"Wally," Zemirah said as she turned to the small speedster. "Could you please go and check on Caroline to see how far she is with the clothes? And don't run."

The boy nodded and scurried off. She stood up straight and all but glared at Dick. The boy raised a brow, knowing what was coming.

"Unacceptable."

And there it was.

"There is no way Sindella could possibly be so cruel as to just leave without a good reason. Call me childish, pig-headed, or whatever-else suits your fancy, I absolutely refuse to believe it!"

"Zemirah be rational," Artemis pushed. "Why else would she leave? She didn't want to be there then, and if she wanted to be here now, I'm sure she would be. But she's not. What does that tell you?"

"It tells me that neither of you is willing to try!"

The two were silent for a moment, unable to say anything to her. Good, she didn't want them to. Finally the silence became uncomfortable and she relented, but only slightly.

"Look, I never told anyone this, but… You know whenever Dr. Fate's around; that he avoids looking at Zatanna, right?"

Artemis, in fact, had not noticed at all.

"Actually, now that I think about it, yes. He does avoid looking at her," Nightwing admitted. "Any time he can really."

"Well, after it happened a few times, I got curious and figured out why," Zemirah carefully explained. "Whenever he looks at her I can actually sense Zatara's love, his joy at seeing her happy. And when that happens, over top of that I can sense Fate. He becomes overwhelmed with guilt and becomes slightly torn. He wants to give Zatanna her father back, but he knows he's still needed. He feels that he can't."

Artemis had never heard it like that before. She'd only seen the Fate that seemingly snubbed his host's daughter. That only attended League meetings at Zatara's insistence. Who probably wouldn't be seen at all if it weren't for Zatara. After Fate had taken Zatara (because that's what he had done. Taken her best friend's father away) Artemis hadn't really been able to think of Fate as human. Now though, he was as human as she was.  
"There is no way someone as loving as _that_ , would stop looking for their _wife_ without reason. And Fate has no excuse or reason not to help," Zemirah finished.

Zemirah was so caught up in her tirade, and Artemis and Nightwing were so lost in thoughts, that no-one noticed the spy just outside the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

3:15 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wally zoomed right back to Kaldur's room. Not stopping like last time to admire the murals on the wall, he leapt onto the bed.

"Wake up!" he shouted.

The living lump on the bed groaned at having been so rudely awakened and rolled onto his other side. Wally was upset, but was undeterred. He shook the younger boy until Kaldur finally gave up and threw the covers off. Coincidently, the bedding effectively blanketed the small speedster.

"What?" the Atlantean cried.

Wally struggled to pull the covers off and Kaldur laughed at his floundering. When the ginger finally did get free. He had to bite his tongue to keep from calling names. If he made the boy cry again, Zemirah would know and would not be pleased.

"We need t' get Dr. Fate," Wally explained.

To his credit, Kaldur did not glare scathingly at his counterpart. He wanted to, very desperately so; but he refrained. So, he didn't glare.

But he did laugh.

Kaldur giggled madly. He was laughing so hard that he was holding his sides and crying tears of mirth. It wasn't until he calmed down he noticed that Wally was staring at him blandly. He gasped a few times to catch his breath before finally stopping.

"You serious?"

The speedster nodded. Kaldur found himself stifling more laughter; and covered his mouth with both hands, shaking steadily with glee. When he eventually settled, he shook his head.

"You not smart," he muttered.

"Oh, yeah? W'll you're… You're…"

Wally struggled to come up with a sharp remark while Kaldur smirked.

"You're… You're mean."

Kaldur looked thoughtful for a moment before a wicked glint came to his eye. He roughly bit his lip and allowed tears to well in his eyes and then started screaming from the top of his lungs. Wally tumbled off the bed in surprise. After a few seconds he snapped back into reality.

"No- Wait! Why- STOP!" He cried, immediately distressed

As soon as the begging reached his ears, Kaldur quieted. The Atlantean smirked.

It would seem he had a skeleton key.


	9. Trouble

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

3:21 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Um… Where's Wally?" Artemis said suddenly.

The other two looked around frantically. There was a lot of trouble a four year old could get into in a large cave intended for grown heroes. Zemirah was immediately on high-alert, scanning the entire cave for Wally's life-force. For one frantic, heart-stopping second she couldn't find them before she felt both of their life-forces in Kaldur's room.

"They're in Kaldur's room. Move."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

3:24 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three made their way to the dormitories in record time. They carefully opened the door to Kaldur's room. The Atlantean was sporting a bleeding lip whereas the speedster was staring in utter shock.

"Kaldur! What in the name of Orion happened?!" Zemirah cried.

The Atlantean in question just stared at her in confusion. The girl picked him up and he suddenly felt a cold rush on his mouth. It was gone just as soon as it came. Zemirah turned to Wally, her voice gentle, but stern.

"What happened?"

Wally finally shook himself out of his stupor and blinked before answering.

"He bit his lip."

The crystal-kinetiscist gave the toddler in her arms an odd look. He only stared blankly in response.

"And why did you do that?"

The toddler only blushed red and burrowed his face in her shoulder, clutching to her for good measure. Zemirah scoffed unbelievingly at him.

"Don't think you're gonna get out of it just yet, you."

He only leaned into her and sagged in her grasp. The others laughed at his hopeless antics and followed her out of the room. They made their way to the kitchen where Caroline stood waiting.

"There you guys are! I finally finished their clothes! Check it out!"

True to her word, there were two sets of clothes folded up on the counter. She picked them up to show off her work. The first was a simple sky blue onesie with a white hood. On the back was a red-outlined, gold Flash emblem. The second Wally saw it he went _bonkers_. He snatched it from her grasp and began babbling so fast Dick couldn't even make out what he was saying. For a few moments they all stared in shock. The over-excited rush only stopped after Zemirah set Kaldur down and clamped her hand over Wally's mouth.

"Hush…" she whispered.

When she let go the boy blushed deep pink.

"Did I talk really fast again?"

Everyone nodded silently.

"Sorry…" He sheepishly apologized. "But just look at it!"

"Wha' you waitin' on, Christmas?" Zemirah laughed. "Go put the t'ing on child."

The redhead giggled madly before running off to put it on. Caroline laughed before turning to pick up the other outfit. This onesie was a cherry red with a black hood and white wave designs at the wrists and ankles. There was and embroidered gold A-shaped arch on the back. When Kaldur saw it, he gasped in awe.

" _Atlantída…_ " he murmured.

The others smiled and Caroline handed the cloth to the boy and he smiled.

" _Efcharistó_ ," he said before turning to Zemirah.

" _Se parakaló voíthisé me_ ," he said, tugging at her skirt.

"You serious?" She said, disbelieving.

He nodded.

"Ay-yi-yi… Artemis, please help him," Zemirah begged.

Kaldur looked disappointed, but didn't complain when the blonde scooped him up and took him to change. Zemirah on the other hand, was sat on a stool and slumped forward. She hadn't done all that much that day, but she felt ridiculously tired. Two of her friends had been turned into children; another friend was possibly stuck in a magical coma that she could do nothing about, _and_ she'd had to go shopping with Bankori. She shuddered trying to stave off the tears.

" _Please_ don't let this day get any worse," she murmured into the crook of her arm.

 _Leaguers to the main hanger._ The computer commanded.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," she groaned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

4:09 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's wrong?" Bloom Blaster said, securing her violet mask.

Nightwing, Black Dragon, Pink Cougar, Artemis, Miss Martian and Superboy were all present watching a city a good eight per cent destroyed. Meanwhile, the sky above looked as though fire was raining down.

" _There's a strange asteroid shower causing destruction in Central City_ ," Black Canary explained via communication screen.

"Define ' _strange_ ' please, Canary," Bloom Blaster said, brow raised.

" _Oh, well, for one thing, they're setting the city on fire!_ " Black Canary snarked. " _For another they seem to be made of a strange alloy partially consisting of Nth metal. Twins you're on standby. We need Bloom Blaster, Kid Flash, Superboy, Aqualad, and Miss Martian down here pronto._ "

At the list of heroes, Bloom's eyes widened and she turned to Nightwing who was conveniently adjusting his escrima holster.

"You didn't tell them?" she asked, not believing.

Nightwing shrugged.

"Ayo…"Bloom Blaster gaped. "I don' belive you didn't tell 'dem!"

"I didn't think I'd have to, _okay_?" Nightwing finally snapped.

" _Tell who what?_ " Black Canary snapped, growing extremely impatient.

Bloom Blaster turned to the senior Leaguer with a determined look in her eye, ignoring the annoyed look on Canary's face.

"Black Canary, it is my job as Mount Justice Division medic to inform the League that Zatanna, Kid Flash, and Aqualad are all out of commission until further notice."

Canary became significantly less annoyed and more concerned.

" _Why…?_ "

"Well Zatanna is in what appears to be a magically induced coma, although I can't be too sure. She's just not waking up."

" _And the other two?_ "

Before she could respond, Wally zoomed in and slammed right into Nightwing knocking the two to the ground. Black Canary stared at the scene in unprocessed shock. When she finally processed the scene, she took one look at the toddler and turned to Nightwing.

"Batman is going to kill you."


	10. Central

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

4:12 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightwing got up from his place on the floor, before picking up his de-aged best friend. They turned to the screen where Black Canary looked one good shock away from scolding Nightwing. She shook her head out of her stupor and sighed.

"Alright, change in tactics. Twins, you're coming now. Bloom Blaster, Miss Martian, and Superboy; we need you three down here too."

"And me?" Nightwing asked.

"Isn't it obvious? You're on babysitting duty. And don't think I'm not telling Batman about this!"

Bloom Blaster had to clear her throat in order to keep from laughing. She'd love to be a fly on the wall of that conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Central City|

March 11th, 2016|

3:15 PM, CDT|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh, what time is it?" Bloom Blaster asked.

"Uhm… My watch is probably wrong…" Pink Cougar answered.

"UGH! Why does America have so many time zones in one country?!"

Bloom Blaster never got an answer as the ship was struck.

"Miss M, what just hit us?" Bloom demanded.

"I think it was a stray meteor."

Superboy got out of his seat.

"I'm not waiting for landing; anyone coming down with me?"

Bloom Blaster followed suit. The Kryptonian jumped down the hatch, the crystal-kineticist trailing behind him. She generated a crystalline slide while the other barreled through the air. Superboy hit the ground with a soft thud, while Bloom alighted almost silently. The young woman reached for her comm link, turning towards any immediate danger.

"This is Bloom Blaster, what's the damage?"

The communicator crackled to life and the Flash's voice came online.

 _"_ _ **Several meteors have damaged buildings, gas pipes, and water lines. It's going kinda crazy with fires starting randomly and flooding elsewhere at the drop of a hat."**_

 _ **"No casualties so far, but we can't know for certain,"**_ Black Canary added.

"Affirmative. I'll try to save the buildings, Flash I'll let you know where I find civilians."

She turned and ran for where a few people were fleeing. Two office buildings were burning brightly. She quickly isolated the fires and carefully manipulated them to a stop. Just as the flames went out she heard a gunshot followed by an alarm.

 _Are you serious?!_ She thought.

"There's a robbery in progress here. Any takers?"

No response. After thirty seconds she answered her own question.

"Alright then, I'm going in."

Ignoring the front of the building, Bloom Blaster snuck around to the back and silently used the employee entrance. She crept to the front; quietly hushing and reassuring the frightened shoppers huddled in groups. When she got to the front, a burly man wearing a ski-mask was spouting demands and holding the cashier — a trembling young man in his late teens — at gunpoint. Bloom Blaster went over her options quickly, if the gunman was alerted to her presence he would most definitely take the cashier hostage. Or worse. Nullify the gun it was.

Bloom Blaster conjured up a crystal to encroach the weapon. Soon enough, the crook got furious when the young man made no move to fulfill his demands and moved to fire a warning shot…

Nothing.

"What the-"

The chlorokineticsist let out a light-hearted chuckle and slipped from her hiding place. She carelessly leaned against a shelf with her arms crossed.

"I've rendered your firearm inoperable. You have no weapon, stand down."

The two became locked in a silent standstill. Then the mook became sharply smug. Bloom Blaster shook her head, already knowing his reason.

"You don't really think your little friend snuck up on me, right?"

She spun around just in time to catch the gun swinging at her, allowing the metal to distort in her hand. The second crook looked stunned for a moment before the heroine clocked him in the gut. She tripped him up and he hit the ground heavily. She paused momentarily at the sudden heavy footsteps. The first robber was trying to charge her.

As if.

Bloom Blaster sidestepped him and he barreled right into his companion. The force knocked out the second crook and disoriented the first. With a single strike to a pressure point, she knocked out the first offender. She proceeded to bind them both in crystal bands before turning to the people.

"Is everyone alright?"

There were cries of affirmation as well as gasps of relief. Amidst all that were a few heartfelt rounds of applause. Then the poor cashier, thoroughly shaken and relieved at the same time, broke down and cried. Bloom Blaster moved to sooth him as he sobbed and hiccupped. Eventually, she deemed him calm enough to be left with the others.

"Hey! Let us go!"

Bloom Blaster turned to the bound crooks. They had come to and were struggling against their bindings. The shorter one who was very clearly the younger, was putting up a heck of a fight with his fetters. The heroine stared at them flatly.

"No."

"You *****! When I get my hands on you I'll-"

"You'll what? I've already kicked your butts."

The younger mook glared murderously at the young hero while Bloom Blaster looked unimpressed. The crook continued to glare even as she spun on her heel, turning her back to them. She addressed the slightly shell-shocked people.

"Everybody, it's not safe to go outside just yet. There's a meteor shower that's causing a lot of trouble, so it's best to stay inside."

"What about them?" A boy around Bloom's age asked, pointing to the still struggling duo.

"They're stuck like that. You'd have to be strong as Superman to break my crystal."

She nodded and turned to leave when she stopped. Feeling something tugging on her leg she spun around and looked down. A little girl, her braids held back by a pink ribbon, wearing a Flash T-shirt looked up at her with wide, hazel eyes. The child looked terribly afraid and looked almost too shy to speak.

"What's wrong?" Bloom Blaster asked, crouching down to eye-level with the girl.

"Do you know when the meteo's bath is gonna stop?"

"Meteor _shower_ ," Bloom corrected, smiling gently. "I don't know when it'll stop, but it should be over soon enough."

Bloom Blaster turned to leave when she felt another tug on her suit.

"Do you have to leave them _here_?" The little one asked pointing to the scowling and moping crooks.

"Unfortunately, yes. The police are very busy doing what they can about the meteor shower, so they can't pick him up. So they'll have to stay here until they can get picked up by the authorities. I know you don't like it Sweetie, I don't either, but it's the best decision I can make, given the circumstances."

Despite the slight look of confusion on her face, the little girl nodded in understanding. Before Bloom Blaster could answer, another meteor smashed into the street, shaking the whole building down to it's foundation. Bloom grabbed hold of the small child as she nearly toppled to the floor. She held her close until the tremors stopped.

"Is everyone okay?" she called.

All answers were affirmative and Bloom let out a sigh of relief. She turned to the child in her arms who stared up at her expectantly.

"And _that_ is why everyone is staying in here."


	11. BOOM

Central City|

March 11th, 2016|

3:27 PM, CDT|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloom Blaster gently sent the girl towards her father before turning to leave. Before she put her hand on the door, she paused and turned to her captives.

"And as for you two, you oughtta be ashamed of yourselves. What would your mother say if she saw you right now?"

With that she spun on her heel and left. She moved to the new crash site, searching for anyone nearby while putting out the flames. She quickly ended the inferno the over-grown space rock started. The building damage due to impact however, was extensive.

 _With any luck, this_ wasn't _an office or apartment building…_

She turned to look for the nearest fire to continue damage control. Find a fire, put it out. Get any civilians to safety. Rinse and repeat. Soon she had put out most of the ground fires in the area. Generating platforms to climb up for a better vantage point, she searched for any danger. She made it four stories before noticing something strange. It wasn't a meteor, she was absolutely sure of it.

"Bloom Blaster to Watchtower: ARE YOU _SEEING_ THIS RIGHT NOW?"

She stared up at the large object heading towards the city below. It was a spaceship from the looks of it, but the design was completely foreign.

" _What am I looking at Flower-child?_ " Hawkman's voice came online.

"Central City, north sky. Unidentified spacecraft."

" _Alright I have a visual…_ " Suddenly Hawkman cut himself off with a gasp. " _Oh. My… Shayera, you need to see this!_ "

The line to the Watchtower was suddenly cut before coming back online.

" _No way…_ " Hawkgirl's voice sounded over the comms. " _Watchtower to Ground Squad-Central: Spacecraft falling from the north sky. That is a Gordanian ship, I repeat: that is a Gordanian ship!_ "

Shock nearly consumed Bloom Blaster as she watched the vehicle slowly plummet to Earth. She shook herself out of her trance and checked the ship for any life forces.

"I'm not getting anything; the ship is empty."

" _Not good, Gordanians use a highly volatile fuel injector core, if no one's on the ship, they've abandoned it and the core is unstable._ "

" _If it hits the ground?_ " Black Canary asked.

" _Let's just say, there won't be much of Central City left to save._ "

" _WHAT?_ " Flash snapped.

" _We need to stop that ship_ ," Black Canary said.

" _Should we send in one of the Lanterns?_ " Hawkgirl asked.

" _Negative, the Green Lanterns were called to Oa three hours ago_ ," Hawkman answered.

Bloom Blaster stared again as the ship began to fall faster. Thinking quickly, she made a plan.

"Watchtower, ETA on the ship?"

" _At current speed and trajectory… three minutes, forty seconds and closing_ ," Hawkgirl said.

"Alright, Bloom Blaster to Superboy; get to my coordinates pronto."

Bloom continued staring at the ship, her plan ironing itself out in her head. She almost didn't hear the Kryptonian land next to her.

"What do you need?"

She inhaled sharply before speaking.

"I need you to throw me at the ship."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me, If that thing hit's the ground it's bye-bye Central City. We can't take out or drain the fuel injectors, so our only option is to destroy the ship _now_ ," she spoke through her communicator again. "Hawks, you know these guys best. Do you know where the fuel injector core is?"

" _It's a simple Citadel-class scout ship,_ " Hawkgirl explained. " _The injector core should be right under the hull, the part where it's taking a nosedive... ETA two minutes!_ "

"Got it, thanks," she turned back to the Kryptonian. "I'm ready when you are."

Gingerly, Superboy picked her up by the waist, readying himself to jump.

"I don't like this…"

"We don't have a choice. …Now!"

Superboy jumped before launching her right at the ship. Bloom formed a long-handled war hammer from crystal, making the tool as dense as she could manage. Just as she was about to strike, she fell short and jumped on a falling meteor for an extra boost.

 _3… 2… 1._

She struck the ship's hull with all her might, causing a hairline fracture. She struck it again and it split open with a sickening crack. The sudden build-up of energy immediately became palpable. She turned around and dove away propelling downward, pushing; almost willing herself to fall faster. As the ship began to short out Bloom Blaster created an enormous force field, encompassing as much of the city as she could. She landed on its apex, focusing all her power on keeping it together.

 _Boom._

The blast completely obliterated the ship and disintegrated much of the space debris near it. The shockwave shook the dome and suddenly, Bloom Blaster was _pushed_ though the crystal like it was nothing. She flailed about, panicking as she was abruptly airborne again.

"Got'cha," she heard as she became steady again.

She looked to see Superboy's familiar serene grin. Bloom relaxed at their slow descent and watched the light refract through the bubble, bathing the city in a soft, kaleidoscopic effect.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, exhaustion gracing her features. Superboy landed, fairly gracefully, helping Bloom Blaster to her feet before curious blankness took over his countenance.

"Bloom!"

The two turned at the sound. Black Canary was headed their way. Bloom could already sense that she was in trouble. Black Canary was technically still 'team mom', and while relieved, was very upset and very good at hiding it. She was soon joined by the Flash, who was all kinds of distressed and perturbed and was _not_ very good at hiding it.

"Are you alright? We tried reaching you on the comms, but nothing."

"Sorry, I think the shockwave might've scrambled my comm link."

The Flash was very unimpressed. He crossed his arms as his mouth shrunk to a thin line. It didn't take an empath to guess what he was feeling.

"Your comm? That shockwave could've scrambled _your brain_. You _should_ be dead, or an invalid at the very least."

"I know," Bloom responded shaking her head. "But I would've been dead anyway if I hadn't."

"Choice of the damned?"

The younger heroine turned to Black Canary and nodded before turning back to the Flash, her face serious.

"There's a convenience store down that way with two crooks bound in crystal."

"Already on it."

The Flash was gone just like that. Black Canary suddenly turned away, listening to a transmission on her comm. She responded before turning back to the younger heroes, a pleased look on her face.

"Alright, the Hawks say the worst is over. You can release the shield."

Bloom Blaster looked up, staring at the crystalline dome high above them. Wordlessly, the dome destabilized and dissipated from the center outwards. The kaleidoscope disappeared and the area was bathed in a dark red light. She watched as the meteor shower seemed to cease, no longer looking like an attack from above. The stragglers looked like falling stars, burning up in the atmosphere.

"What's up with the sunset?" Bloom asked.

"After effects of the meteor shower and the explosion," Superboy answered.

Mercifully, Bloom Blaster and Superboy were withdrawn, while the others remained for the clean-up. Bloom stared at the floor listlessly as Superboy started the Bioship.

"It doesn't make sense…" she mumbled.

"What doesn't make sense?"

But she didn't answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

8:01 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they got back to the cave, it was quiet. Almost too quiet. Bloom left the hangar, pulling off her mask as she went, heading for the lounge. She could hear children's program playing, sensing three people before she even heard it. She peeked in very quietly, two toddlers were watching intently. Wally was very into it, bouncing to the song and 'helping' characters on screen. Kaldur just sat quietly, idly chewing on a small blanket. She was just about to ask about the others when she paused, realizing they seemed taller than they should've been. Putting all her stealth training into practice she snuck over and peeked over the sofa. What she saw made her hold her breath to keep from cooing and laughing at the sight. The two were actually sitting on Dick's chest, the latter of which was laying back on the couch, stock still.

"'Ow can you _not_ see the house? It's right there!" Wally suddenly shouted at the screen.

"She's not facing that way kiddo," she explained.

The two jolted and turned, grinning at her return. They then promptly slid into Dick's lap as he sat up.

"You're back."

The two toddlers jumped off the sofa and scurried to her. The younger motioned to be picked up while the older hugged her legs. As soon as little Kaldur was in her arms, he nuzzled her and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Di'you fix the sky?" Wally asked from the floor.

"Fix…the sky?" Zemirah asked, directing the query at Dick rather than the child.

"How was I supposed to watch the news?" He asked. "Artemis was on media watch."

Zemirah nodded, very easily sensing fear and relief rolling off the three in waves. She sluggishly made her way onto the sofa, hampered by the small person on her leg.

"Well, we fixed the problem, but everyone else is cleaning up… I stopped a robbery."

"Someone seriously tried to rob a place when fire was practically raining down on the city?" Dick asked, his annoyance like a blaring siren.

"Two guys actually, scared the poor cashier half to death."

"Nobody got hurt, right?"

"Of course not! You see, the trick is to disarm the baddies _before_ making an entrance."

Dick rolled his eyes at the obvious jab and instead tried to pry Kaldur out of her arms. Emphasis on try, for as soon as Zemirah loosened her grip he began to fuss.

"Oh-oh, what happen to you?"

The Atlantean said nothing and clung even tighter. Smiling good-naturedly, she motioned for the bat to back off, which he did. Instead, he moved to pick up Wally from the floor, who still held Zemirah in an iron-grip. As the speedster was being removed from her person, Zemirah suddenly remembered something.

"You know you in big trouble right?"

"Please, I haven't been in 'big trouble' since I was sixteen," Dick answered nonchalantly.

"Yeah, right. So you _haven't_ written up any… _selective_ reports in the past two days?"

His face didn't change, but his emotions gave him away. He was much less self-assured. Zemirah simply gave him an all-knowing look as the little one at her feet finally let go.

"Mm-hmm, puttin' ya' _self_ in problems. When BM gets here, you gon' know."

With that she turned to the kitchen to grab a snack. She had just grabbed a spoon when Artemis came in. She took one look at Zemirah and was filled with annoyance and severe concern.

But her face portrayed rage.

"What _the heck_ were you thinking?" she snapped.

Zemirah knew not to answer. She simply stood there and steeled herself for the lecture of Flaxen Fury.

"Seriously? Having yourself being _thrown_ into the sky and _deliberately_ making a spaceship explode? Are you _nuts_? I've seen Green Arrow take smaller risks than that!"

"You blew up a spaceship?" Wally suddenly asked, garnering everyone's attention.

For a split-second, everyone looked at him before turning back to Zemirah. Artemis was still concerned, Dick was shocked and even a little bit smug. Wally was impressed but confused. And Kaldur…

Kaldur was an emotional short-circuit.

There was shock, awe, confusion, concern and fear. They emanated from him in alternating wells. But the emotion that finally overtook all of them was _rage_. It swallowed him whole and pushed the others aside. It boiled, it bubbled, it seethed; until he ultimately lashed out. Kaldur _screamed_ ; his words vaguely English and vaguely Atlantean. The sudden outburst sent the whole room into utter confusion. In under fifteen seconds his tirade devolved into wordless shouts. He threw an absolute tantrum, kicking his feet and wriggling. After a few minutes he reached the end of his rope.

He hit her.

It didn't hurt. In fact, she expected it. One insignificant little 'tap' and that was that. But as soon as it was over the whole room froze. Three pairs of eyes stared at the little Atlantean in Zemirah's arms, stunned into silence. Kaldur stopped too, seemingly sensing something wrong. A full minute passed before it finally dawned on him what had happened. The second it sunk in he began to tremble. He clutched Zemirah tightly, overridden with guilt. He began sobbing, begging in Atlantean.

"Shh, it's okay," Zemirah soothed.

She carefully rocked him, his words slowly fading to nonsense. After what felt like an eternity, he quieted down; hiccupping and moping softly.

"Hush now, it's okay. You're not in your right mind. I forgive you."

She looked up, Dick and Artemis were going absolutely crazy with worry. And Wally… Poor Wally was _terrified_. Zemirah gave Kaldur over to Artemis, the child still visibly shaking. She walked over to the near-catatonic speedster, speaking very gently.

"Wally, what's wrong?"

The red-head said nothing, opting to look over everyone else in panic. His eyes seemed to linger a bit longer on the other toddler's form.

"Wally?"

"He… He hit you…"

"I know."

"But… He would _never_ hit you. _Never ever_."

"I know."

For a very long moment, he was silent.

"Something's wrong with us, huh?"

"Yes."

"Is he sick?"

"Possibly."

"…Am _I_ gonna get sick?"

"Possibly."

"I don't wanna get sick."

"I know."

"…I'm scared."

"I know."


	12. Bird by Bird

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

8:21 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five pairs of feet made their way to the Med Bay; all silent and contemplative. The young speedster dragged himself along, fear weighing his little body down. The Med Bay was deathly silent and somehow chilled everyone down to their bones. Zatanna still lay motionless on her bed. Dick spared her a pained glance before helping Wally onto a gurney. Artemis sat Kaldur down on a chair and the boy curled up, hugging his knees to his chest. Shunting that problem for now, Zemirah turned to Wally who was anxiously kicking his legs.

"Lie down," Zemirah gently commanded.

The mini-speedster obeyed. Zemirah started examining him, her hands glowing a blueish-green. Nothing was off, at least not immediately. But upon deeper inspection, she noticed that his biochemistry was slightly off for his current age. As soon as she was finished, she motioned for Kaldur to take his place. Sluggishly, he complied, a tiredness that should never be suffered by a child marring his features. She began examining him, and almost instantly alarm bells began going off in her head. Kaldur's biochemistry was _way_ off for his current age. His brain chemistry was somehow working overtime and stopping suddenly, rinse and repeat. To make it short, sweet, and to the point, his brain was going haywire.

Something was very, very wrong.

As soon as she finished examining him, she was practically flitting madly about on the Med Bay; muttering quietly to herself. Her mind moved a hundred knots and hour, trying her best to figure out what was going on with them both. Eventually, she paused, her mind slowing to solidify her theory.

"Are we sick?" Wally asked, worry bogging his little body down.

Zemirah sighed, knowing she shouldn't lie to them; but not knowing how to explain it to either of them. She took a deep breath before answering.

"Sort of; I mean, you're both healthy, but something's not right."

Stone-faced, Wally nodded while Kaldur looked mildly confused. Zemirah expected as much, Wally had always had a better grasp of medicine between the two.

"So what's wrong?"

"I think… That the reason you're like this, is pushing itself to keep you both like this," she responded. "But the reason Kaldur snapped is because his body is fighting it. Very, very hard."

Wally nodded, confusion and understanding washing through him. Zemirah decided that they both needed a distraction.

"Wally, everyone's gonna be very hungry when they get back, so why don't you and Kaldur go through the recipe book in the kitchen so we can get started on dinner? Can you do that?"

Again, Wally nodded. He took Kaldur by the hand and all but dragged the Atlantean out of the Med Bay. As soon as they were gone Artemis turned to the medic.

"I'm sorry, so how does that work?"

"I think she means that his brain is trying to reset his body," Dick answered. "Am I right?"

"And Bingo was his name-o," Zemirah joked. "His hypothalamus and pituitary are overworking themselves, starting and stopping and starting and stopping. He's very literally trying to grow up and… I guess the magic is suppressing it? Not to mention his brain is no longer post-puberty. Hell, it's not even _trans_ -puberty. _Both_ of their bodies have completely retrograded with no known medical cause and I have _**no idea how to deal with this**_!"

She stopped, panting heavily and not even realizing she'd raised her voice. Her panting turned to shuddering and she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. She looked up at Dick's face, his sky blue eyes very clearly worried. She tried to put on a face but only succeeded in breaking down.

"I… I don't know what to do… I can't do anything!" she cried miserably

She crumpled to the floor, her face in her hands. She shook, trying her hardest not to cry. She coughed, forcing herself to calm down. Her mind started racing, looking for some kind of opportunity to solve their dilemma. She was at a loss for what to do next; then it struck her like lightning.

"Help me up," she suddenly commanded.

Dick helped her to her feet and she immediately turned to the sink. She washed the redness from her face before reaching for her mask. She headed out the door as she pulled it on.

"Where are you going?" Dick asked.

"Out," she answered bluntly.

"Like that?" Artemis asked.

"You'll get answers later."

"I want answers _now_."

"Too bad. Watch the boys while I'm gone — _don't_ upset either of them!"

With that she was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

8:43 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Connor was almost out the door of the main hangar when he bumped into something. Or rather, someone bumped into him. He watched as Zemirah fell backwards onto the floor.

"Ow! Why do you have to built like a freaking brick house?" She whined.

"Sorry Bloom, I didn't see you there," he answered, helping her off the floor.

"You could have heard me- You know what? Never mind. Can Sphere take me somewhere?"

"She had just finished resting when I checked on her… Wait, why?"

"I need to go somewhere, can she take me?"

"Sure. But I'm going with you."

" _Why?_ "

"Because the last time I left you alone with Sphere on a flight, you almost fell out of the sky."

"Only because _she_ decided to play some weird game! I told her not to do it!"

"Which is exactly why I'm going with you. Imagine if she does something even crazier and I'm not around! Caroline would kill me!"

"Caroline couldn't lay a scratch on you, you're a freaking brick."

"Doesn't mean she wouldn't try."

They were silent for a few minutes, something of a staredown. Finally, Connor relented, his unearthly blue orbs tearing away from her burnt umber browns.

"Alright, you don't want me to know what you're doing. Fine. Just take me with you and I won't ask questions."

Zemirah seemed to consider this offer for a moment before she relented. Wordlessly, she walked into the hangar, motioning for him to follow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New York|

March 11th, 2016|

9:01 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, where _specifically_ are we going anyway?" Connor asked.

"Left," Zemirah answered.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said left- Well, _make_ a left."

"O-kay…?"

Connor silently obeyed and had the Super-cycle move left. The two remained silent for a few more moments before he spoke up again.

"So… where are we going again?"

"We'll know when we get there."

At that, the Super-cycle almost lurched forward and stopped, rattling the less sturdy of her two occupants.

"OW! Superboy, what the _heck_?"

"Give me _one_ good reason I shouldn't turn Sphere around right now."

" _I can give you a litany!_ But since you only need one, I'll give you the first one that pops into my head… _Z-A-T-A-N-N-A."_

The two were again locked in a stalemate, one that Connor did not win. Begrudgingly, he drove the Super-cycle back on the direction Zemirah had set. Maybe a few hours later, after a somewhat painful silence Connor spoke up again.

"Zemirah we've flown all the way to Iowa! When are we gonna get there?"

"Right now. Land here."

Taken aback, Connor obeyed and landed. Zemirah jumped out of the Super-Cycle, and scurried ahead before she stopped and turned back. She waltzed right up to him and gave him a stern look.

"Stay here."

"What?"

"You heard me, you're staying here; I'll be right back."

"Zemirah, where are you going?"

But she'd already gone ahead, leaving the other two in silence. Zemirah moved through the greenery they'd parked in and casually slipped out. It was a public park, but the place was blessedly empty. She moved silently towards her quarry and quietly sat on the bench. She waited several moments before speaking.

"So, how have you been?"

"…Fine."

They were silent again after that. Zemirah looked to find the right words to say, but her companion beat her to it.

"…How is everyone else?"

"They… They're fine…"

"Wait, what's wrong?"

Zemirah turned at the change in tone. Her counterpart had finally turned to face her, their indigo eyes filled with worry. Shoulder-length, blueish-black tresses framed their face and dusky taupe skin glowed in the moonlight. Despite her slightly worn clothes she looked ethereal.

"How did you know something's wrong?"

"Same way you would, remember?"

"Of course you did."

"…Is that why you've come looking for me?"

"I know you didn't want any of us looking for you. I wouldn't have bothered you if it wasn't important."

"I'll just make whatever it is worse. I just know it."

"No, you won't."

"And how could you possibly know that?"

"Raven, _**please**_."


	13. Return

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

10:27 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The flight back to the cave had been blessedly silent. Connor hadn't questioned Raven's appearance, nor had he tried to question Zemirah. When they had taken off, and Zemirah could tell that Sphere was moving just a little faster than she had before. Raven had been silent as a lamb, and wordlessly exited when Sphere had landed. The hangar was empty… or at least, it _was_ until the pink-haired embodiment of fury herself stormed into view.

"Zemirah Genevieve Juniper Atlas, you are in BIG trouble!" Caroline bellowed.

"Me? What did _I_ do?"

"What you _did_? You almost _blew yourself up_ is what you did!"

Zemirah went from confused to sheepish in under a second, flushing red in realization. She immediately tried to hide herself by turning away. Sadly, invisibility was not in her repertoire of abilities.

"Z, what in the _hell_ were you thinking? You knew — Hawkgirl practically _warned_ you — that ship could've blown you to bits and you _still_ got close! Have you lost your damn _mind_? I could be scraping you off the off the streets of Central right now!"

"Buh you not!" Zemirah responded. "I'n got no scratch on me!"

"By a very slim chance! I heard what the Flash said; you shouldn't be _alive_!"

 _Thanks a lot Barry._

"That move was reckless, it was stupid; it was-"

"Exactly what needed to be done," Zemirah interjected.

"That's not the point Z! You're not indestructible!"

"Just so you know, you not indestructible neither. You died more times than I can count."

"But I can _survive_ death! You-"

"Can get blown up, or sliced to shreds, or even worse. I know already! It's the same song and dance every time I do something mildly crazy!"

"Then stop doing crazy things! You're supposed to be the smart one!"

Zemirah sighed, realizing that they were getting absolutely nowhere fast. She took a slow, calming breath before speaking again.

"Pinky stop. Listen: I sorry. I know you don't like me putting myself in danger like that. But stunts like that is exactly what we sign up for. To help."

"You're island accent is slipping out."

"I don't give."

Caroline very clearly wanted to continue arguing her point, but conceded. With her fear-driven temper quelled she gladly changed the subject.

"Alright. So where did you go?"

" _Oh_ , nowhere," Zemirah smoothly drawled.

Caroline raised a skeptical brow. Zemirah stared, her countenance visibly sincere. Had she been talking to anyone else, they would've left it at that.

But Caroline wasn't buying it.

"Okay, what were you really doing?"

"Getting help for our very 'little' problems," the medic answered.

"What in the name of what are you talking about?"

"Can we go now?" a new voice asked.

Caroline froze at the sound. She — very slowly — turned to face its source; her eyes wide as saucers and mouth silently murmuring her disbelief. When her eyes met familiar indigo orbs, she yelped in shock.

"Rae?"

There she was, draped in the ever familiar hooded cape, the cowl pulled over her head. She wore a faded black shirt and worn jeans. Her sneakers were ratty looking, but all of that did not diminish her delicate features. When Caroline finally snapped out of her stupor she grinned madly and hugged the girl.

"Raven we missed you!"

The younger girl said nothing, in fact she shrank at her touch. Caroline didn't notice and squeezed the girl tightly. It wasn't until the girl slipped away, being absorbed into shadows and reappearing a few feet away, that the reaper snapped into attention.

"Since when can you do that?" Caroline asked

"Since a while now…" she said with little care for her astonishment. "If it's all the same to you, could we just cut to the chase?"

"Sure, Connor take her to the boys, they're in the living room."

With very few words, Connor led her out of the hangar, she followed without a second glance to the others. As soon as they were out of ear-shot Caroline turned to her best friend with wide eyes.

"Where on _Earth_ did you find her? The League searched for months!"

"Um… Iowa, believe it or not."

"Zemirah, how the _eff_ did you know she was in Iowa?"

"Uhm… you know how I can find people without using my eyes?"

"Since when can you sense life-forces all the way from here to Iowa?"

"I have an idea, but I'll tell you later; Batman, Flash, and Aquaman are here."

Before the reaper could protest, the Zeta tube computer announced new arrivals. Caroline stared at Zemirah as Batman, Flash, and Aquaman's names and designations were announced.

"You always know before they even get here!" she said moving to greet them. "Hi Bats, hi Flash! Good evening, your highness."

The Flash waved, but failed to laugh at Caroline's joking curtsey. The Atlantean king looked unamused at the young woman's antics before sharing his salutations as well. Instead of greeting any of the senior Leaguers, Zemirah stared Batman in the eye — or rather, his cowl lenses — and smirked before speaking.

"He's in the Med Bay."

Batman glided out of the hangar without so much as a word. As soon as he was gone the crystal-kineticist let out a laugh.

"Nightwing's gonna be grounded until he's thirty."

"Z, he's nineteen," Caroline responded.

"I don't care if he's nineteen; _he's gonna be grounded 'till he's thirty_."

"Whatever you say Z," Caroline said before turning to the other heroes. "So, what brings you two to this homely little base of ours?"

"My nephew is apparently two instead of twenty-one, and no-one told me," Flash deadpanned.

"Not by my idea, I can promise you that," Zemirah responded. "You want to see him?"

"Obviously, Chica."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

10:48 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They four made their way to the kitchen to find a lot of people there. Artemis, Connor, M'gann, the Anarchys, and Chris all stared at the sight before them. Raven, sitting cross-legged on the floor, their two de-aged teammates sitting with her. Wally was bouncing up and down with excitement while Kaldur stared curiously. With a roll of her eyes, Zemirah unceremoniously cleared her throat.

"Why are these two not in bed?"

The others jumped, startled at their sudden entry. The first to recover was the youngest speedster, who took one look at the Flash and went absolutely bonkers.

"Uncle B, Uncle B!" he cried, zooming over to the older speedster.

"Hey little man," Flash greeted.

Aquaman looked past the young girl on the floor, looking instead for his protégé. The boy was peeking out from under her cloak, staring at him with fear and awe.

" _Vasiliás mou…_ "

"Come here child, you need not be afraid," the king said.

Very slowly, almost shyly, Kaldur came closer. When he came close enough, Aquaman lifted him in his arms and held him close. Kaldur looked somewhere between terrified and pleased. When the younger Atlantean settled, the king turned to Zemirah.

"Please, explain what happened."

 _Oh, boy._


	14. Estimates

Mount Justice|

March 11th, 2016|

11:00 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Magic," the Flash hissed once Zemirah explained.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Zemirah joked somberly.

"I know but just… _Magic_."

Zemirah coughed to hide a snort and turned to the toddler in his lap. The red-head looked a bit confused, but the sharpness in his eyes was now more prominent. Zemirah tore her eyes away and turned to Raven, who had begun levitating off the floor.

"Do you think you can fix it?"

"I might not have to."

"What?"

Everyone stared at her curiously, clearly puzzled at her words. Raven shied away at their gaze and ended her levitation, choosing instead to stand upright.

"I've already touched through the spell: I can't break it, but it will wear off on it's own."

"How long will that take?" Aquaman asked.

"That's the part I can't figure out. From the looks of the spell alone, it seems Klarion tried jumped to advanced magic without having much grasp on the bases. Without out that, it becomes harder to predict certain spells."

Everyone took a moment of silence to try to understand what she'd just said.

"Wait…" Zemirah said cautiously. "Are you telling us that Klarion basically flunked magic grade-school?"

"In a word? Yes."

Zemirah found it hilarious and giggled, soon followed by Caroline, Wally and the Anarchy brothers.

"What does this… Base, as you say have to do with the spell?" Aquaman asked.

"It might be a bit difficult to explain…" She said. "Let me start like this: have you ever heard of the phrase 'Knowledge is power'?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well, at a very basic level, magic runs on the same principle. The more you know, the stronger and more stable your magic is."

"Stay in school kids," Flash joked earning a few understated chuckles.

" _Anyway_ , this is a more advanced spell, and from the looks of it he shouldn't have been able to cast it in the first place. At all."

"You can tell all of that," Zemirah said, slightly gaping, "from that one spell?"

Raven nodded. Zemirah felt a rush of exhilaration trill through her with the confirmation that her hunch had been right. She knew Raven could do this.

"Whoa…" Caroline said. "Wait, if he can't perform advanced spells without knowing the basics, then how's he do this?"

She gestured between the two de-aged heroes and Raven looked thoughtful. She raised a hand, her magical energy pulsing black-and-white. When she took it back she smirked.

"He miss-spelled."

"I knew it!" Zemirah snapped.

"What?" Flash asked.

"From what I can tell, the spell was intended to deconstruct their bodies-"

"EXCUSE ME?" Flash asked with a look of absolute horror on his face.

The rest of the group stared between the enchantress and the toddlers with looks of both surprise and alarm.

"Yes, yes, he tried to destroy them but he didn't; let's move on," Raven said hurriedly. "He has the power, but not the ability. Like… Making cake without a recipe. Doesn't work."

Zemirah let out a strangled half-sigh of relief, knowing there was likely very little danger to the boys's lives. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling there was a bit more.

"So, if he intended to destroy their bodies, there shouldn't necessarily be an expiration date on the spell right?"

"Well… No. But like I said, its not one of those spells you can just break once its been cast. It will have to wear out on it's own."

"Approximately how long will that take?" Flash asked.

"At the least? A few more hours."

"And at the very most?" Zemirah asked.

"…A year."

The mountain had not seen that kind of hollow, deathly silence in years.

"What?"


	15. Grotto

Mount Justice|

March 12th, 2016|

12:02 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know, you never did explain it."

"Explain what?"

The Flash and Aquaman had volunteered to put their de-aged protégées to bed. This left the Anarchys, the DeMuërto twins, Connor, M'Gann, Artemis, Raven, and Zemirah in the Lounge. Zemirah had barely sat down on the couch when Caroline asked the question. She looked at her best friend with a puzzled stare. She caught her glance towards the enchantress and immediately caught on.

"Oh right, that. Well… I've never really looked for anyone at so far a range before. I mean she _was_ across at least one state. But I just sort of… Reached out for her and I felt it. It was like… a lighthouse in a foggy night. Even from so far away."

"So does that work?" Caroline asked.

"You know that's hard to explain. But… I think it worked because we're both empaths. Then again I could be wrong."

Or it could just be my powers are going haywire… Zemirah thought. Either option fits.

Before anyone could make another query, Raven got up and left. No one stopped her, but all quietly watched her leave. Shen she was gone Connor turned to Zemirah.

"Should one of us… Talk to her?"

"I'll go, you guys go to bed. Who knows when you'll catch another forty winks?"

With that she got up and trailed after the younger girl. She slipped towards the grotto and watched as Raven sat carefully, avoiding the flowers Zemirah had since planted. She carefully pulled her hood down.

"I know you know we don't blame you."

The younger said nothing but brought her knees up to her chest. Zemirah slowly sauntered forward, carefully treading between the delicate blooms underfoot. She kneeled down next to Raven and quietly rested a hand on her back.

"Raven… Its not your fault."

"Yes, it is," the younger insisted. "Everywhere I go, ever since I was born, I'm nothing but trouble."

"Raven. If I thought for one second that you were trouble; do you really think that I would make Superboy drag himself across at least two states and back, _just_ to find you?"

"Given how desperate you are? Yes."

Zemirah felt the stab from the forthright response and giggled.

"Alright, points for honesty; I guess. But that aside, whether you believe it or not, I you are like our little sister and we love you."

" _Why?_ "

Zemirah jolted at the sudden sadness and confusion lacing the enchantress's being and had to still herself from being overcome by the inadvertent emotion projection she was causing.

"It's _my_ fault he's gone. I'm a curse. I was born to cause destruction wherever I go. So he's gone because of me. Why can't any of you see that?"

"Oh, _honey_ …"

Zemirah could feel the full extent of Raven's self-hatred now. The older empath wanted nothing more than to hurt the people that caused an innocent girl to hate her own exsistence, but she pushed her rage aside. Very gently, she cupped the younger girl's face and looked her in the eye.

"Raven… You are not a curse, and you are not a monster. I don't care what anyone else has told you. You are a wonderful girl and deserve love as much as anybody else in this world."

"But… _why?_ "

Raven's only answer was Zemirah's embrace. She let herself bury her face in the elder girl's neck as she attempted to soothe her. As she projected her love to wash over the enchantress Zemirah stole a glance and the holographic effigy watching over them. She stifled the tears she felt attempting to escape her as she looked at the visage of Robin II.

 _Oh, Jason… I'm almost glad you don't have to see this…_


	16. Morning

Mount Justice|

March 12th, 2016|

6:42 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah woke with a severe aching in her neck and spine.

Yeah… not the best wake-up call.

"Ow, ow, ow…" she softly muttered to herself.

It was only after the other shifted that she remembered that she was not alone. Very delicately, she turned her head to see Jason's proud face looking up and beyond them. Finally, events returned to her consciousness and she surmised they'd fallen asleep here. While still sitting upright.

What was shocking was that no-one had tried to move them.

"I must look like a woman who enjoys sleeping on rocks…" she irately whispered to herself.

She gently twisted away, trying not to wake the younger but her efforts were all for naught when Nightwing rolled in.

"Oh, hey! You guys are awake!"

Unsurprisingly, his less than quiet entrance awoke Raven, who promptly jolted and knocked Zemirah over.

"Ow…" the elder empath muttered monotonously.

"Sorry!" Raven apologized, moving to help the elder up.

"No," Zemirah commanded. "I'll get up on my own. You go to the kitchen and wait for me, got it?"

The younger empath nodded and left, but not without sparing Nightwing a pained glance. The bat watched her scurry out with a curious look.

"What was that about?" He asked, looking down at the empath still curled up on the ground.

"I'll tell you… After you help me off the floor."

The elder looked down carefully at the younger, but moved to help her up anyway. When the younger reached her feet, she groaned in slight pain as her back slowly corrected itself.

"Next time you see that I fell asleep while sitting down or just straight up on the floor, don't let me stay there!" she groused.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Wake you up? I like living thanks."

"I don't know, maybe take me to my own bed? The couch? Just about anything would've been better than the Grotto floor!"

"No way, you're too heavy!"

Zemirah was just _this_ close to smacking him, then she remembered something she'd forgotten.

"Oh, before I forget, just how grounded are you?"

His response was less than intelligible and Zemirah smirked.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't catch it."

"I said I'm grounded for a month," the elder huffed out.

Satisfied, the younger left the room, moving to wake the current children. What she found in each room was that either child was curled up in the arms of their mentors, all fast asleep. She decided to leave them all rest a bit longer. She wandered into the kitchen to find Raven sitting at the breakfast bar.

Odd thing was, she was holding a scroll.

"What's that for?" Zemirah asked as she scuttled into the pantry.

"This scroll actually… Sort of just appeared."

"What?" The elder girl asked, her head popping right back out of the pantry.

"It just appeared. Like, thirty seconds before you got here."

Zemirah took a few steps back and examined the scroll from where she stood, half expecting some sort of magical implosion to happen at any given moment. When nothing happened she moved to take it.

"Well, this oughtta be interesting…"


	17. Busy Day

Mount Justice|

March 12th, 2016|

7:13 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah read through the scroll with her eyes growing wider with every word. When she was finished she rolled it back up and handed it to Raven.

"Alright, so that was some good news and in celebration, we're having pancakes for breakfast… Which means _I_ need to go to the store."

She moved to a kitchen and took a money card out of it before turning to Raven. The fourteen-year-old immediately developed an acute sense of dread.

"Caroline's not awake yet, so while I'm gone you're in charge of the kids until she wakes up," Zemirah said, face cheery.

"I'm sorry, what?" Raven asked, looking thrown under the bus. "Aren't the Flash and Aquaman still here?"

"Yes…" Zemirah answered, not losing her jubilant look. "And while I'm gone _you're_ in charge of the kids until she wakes up."

With that she scampered off, not giving the younger empath a chance to oppose her. The enchantress was thrown for a loop. She didn't know the first thing about child care. She was about to move to find the older empath, but the zeta beam announcing it's user let her know that Zemirah was already gone.

Great.

A few minutes later the Flash came into the kitchen with Wally in his arms.

"Hey, Shadowmaster! Little man and I are gonna head out for a run to Central and back, okay?" The Scarlet Speedster quickly babbled.

" _Zinthos Levitas_!"

The two were halfway out the doorway when they were suddenly levitated off the ground.

"No."

The young enchantress hovered them closer to her and just above the ground. Flash was less than amused.

"C'mon Raven! Put us down!"

"You're not allowed to leave the cave. At least not to go out using your powers!" Raven reasoned, setting them down.

"What do you mean we 'can't go'?" Flash said, brow raised.

"Zemirah left me in charge until she gets back or Caroline wakes up. So, nobody is doing anything that she wouldn't approve of."

"How do you know Zemirah wouldn't approve of it?"

Raven said nothing and pointed behind him. The speedster turned, only to find the younger hero reaching to the stove and trying to grab a pan handle. Flash blinked and sped over, grabbing the youngster and turning the handle away before speeding back over to the enchantress.

"That doesn't count."

"… Sure it doesn't," Raven said, her brow raised. "I understand that you want to play with him, but he's not in a state of being capable of keeping up. Besides, until we can correct the issue, it's probably best if he doesn't strain himself."

"Running isn't going to strain him."

"…Can the average four-year-old keep up with a full-grown adult on any day of the week?"

"He's not your average four-year-old-"

"But he's _four_."

Flash sighed and pulled back his mask, tiredness and regret oozing out from him.

"You're right."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 12th, 2016|

8:43 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

King Orin awoke to a small force bumping into him. He quietly opened his eyes to see that his de-aged protégé had rolled right into him in his sleep. The blond king looked down with an analytical gaze. His blond hair was a bit more golden rather than platinum blond, and his brows were much gentler. All in all, Kaldur'ahm just looked more like his mother as a child. The king wondered if anyone had noticed the changing resemblance as he'd grown older.

Unlikely.

With Kaldur'ahm travelling to the surface world in his care more and more frequently since his leave of the Conservatory, he doubted anyone took any care note the change. Suddenly, the younger awoke in fright at a loud sound, giving Orin a start as well.

" _Shall we see what the commotion is, little one?_ "

The boy nodded and carefully slid off the bed. He took his mentor's hand and followed him out to the source of the sound. The king had his guesses and his hunch was proven right when they wandered into the kitchen they found that Barry was covered in what appeared to be sugar and Raven and Wally were behind what appeared to be a shield made of shadows.

"Is it a good idea to ask what happened here?" Orin asked.

Almost immediately Raven and Wally pointed fingers at the sugar-coated Scarlet Speedster. The blond raised a sheepish hand in admittance.

"Yeah… Thought it would be a good idea to do something fun with the kid, he wanted to bake cookies and I might've gotten a bit carried away."

That actually did very little to explain why the man was covered in sugar, but Orin supposed that was the best answer he was going to get. He proceeded to lift his young protégé into his arms and strolled over to the breakfast bar; pointedly avoiding the Scarlet Speedster and his mess.

"I do not really see how confections are a passable first meal, but I have been told that speedsters operate on a different level," Orin said, smirking.

"You'd be right," the Flash said.

As soon as he said that, he sped off and returned spotless. He picked up his nephew and joined his cohort at the breakfast bar.

"Well than Mister King, what do _you_ suggest we have for breakfast?"

"Actually, Zemirah already planned breakfast, we just have to wait until she gets back," Raven informed, eyes downcast.

"Oh, well, is there anything we can do to set up then?"

"Um… I don't know? What do you have to do to make pancakes?"

The two speedsters looked at the enchantress as though she had personally offended them. To them, she might as well have.

"Have you never had pancakes before?" Barry asked.

"No?"

"Not ever?" Wally asked.

When Raven nodded, the two were absolutely stunned. How could this girl have never had pancakes? It couldn't just be the whole 'raised-in-another-dimension' part. She had escaped last year. She'd been on Earth for at least eight months. How in all that time had she never eaten something as simple as pancakes?

What kind of life did she lead when she left?

"Tell you what Shadowmaster, when Flora gets back, we'll make the best pancakes you ever tasted; right Kid?"

Wally nodded vigorously.

"Can they be purple?"

"Sure thing Kid."

Raven's lack of a smile didn't deter either of them and Barry moved to start setting up. They pulled up a second pan, a few mixing bowls and several measuring tools. The two Atlanteans and enchantress looked on in silence at the two working in tandem.

"I am curious, where is Kaldur'ahm's _νύμφη_? I have not seen her since we woke."

Kaldur looked at his king incredulously at the last word, face reddening significantly.

"She went to go to the store," Raven answered, feeling the boy's embarrassment rolling.

"There are stores open this early in the day?" Orin asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Harbor|

March 12th, 2016|

7:20 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _Eggs, milk, flour, vanilla, sugar, do we need anything else while I'm here?_

Zemirah stared hard at her basket, wishing she'd brought a list. She circled back to the dairy aisle and picked up two kinds of cheese before moving on to the dry goods. She was lucky she remembered where the Whole Foods was or she'd be completely screwed. She had barely remembered to dematerialize her uniform before heading out. As nice as it had been to have Raven back, falling asleep on the floor had done a number on her psyche.

She was all kinds of tired.

She grabbed several things she was sure the others didn't need but knew they'd like, including several kinds of candies and chips. Then she looked at the basket, and doubled the cargo, the thought of having to feed two speedsters reminding her she had two small armies' worth of feeding to do. And then some. She made her way to the cashier before pausing and taking a step back. She hid behind a few shelves as a gunshot went off. The sound sent the few other shoppers diving to the floor.

 _Pabo ke laggi nek!_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Watchtower|

March 12th, 2016|

7:31 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shayera was about to go to bed, her shift finally over.

"Hey, J'onn, you ready for the day shift?"

"Yes ma'am Commander."

"Funny."

 _ **"Bloom Blaster to Wacthtower. Do you copy?"**_

The two looked over to the communication console and immediately moved to respond.

"Bloom Blaster, this is Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter," Shayera responded. "We copy. What's your status?"

 _ **"I'm fine, but there's a robbery in progress at Whole Foods in Happy Harbor and I'm in civvies. My nano-brace is in the mountain. Should I engage?"**_

"Do not engage," Martian Manhunter instructed. "Sit tight, we will contact Mount Justice and deploy one of the others. I repeat: _Do not engage_."

 _ **"Copy that. On standby."**_

The Martian and Thanagarian shared a look.

"Watchtower to Mount Justice. Do you copy?"

Nightwing's voice came online.

 _ **"We copy Watchtower; what's the damage?"**_

"Robbery in progress at the local Whole Foods. Bloom Blaster is stuck without uniform. Anybody awake yet?" Shayera said

 _ **"Hang on, I'll sound the alarm."**_

When communications from the mountain shut off, the Console came crackling back to life.

 _ **"Bloom Blaster to Watchtower, please respond. Do you copy?"**_

Shayera's worry elevated as the younger heroine's voice was a whisper.

"We copy Bloom Blaster, what's the matter?"

 _ **"The robbery has just escalated."**_

"Escalated how?"

 _ **"A civilian just got shot… Execution style."**_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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	18. Big Trouble

Happy Harbor|

March 12th, 2016|

7:44 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah curled up on the floor, making herself as small as she could. Shaking at the hollow feeling of a life force fizzling out quicker than a candle flame. An old woman, crazy as she was, had stood up to the robbers, screaming at them for the causing a ruckus. And got shot for her troubles. She couldn't even to look over at the cooling corpse, knowing one wrong move could end in her capture at best; her death at worst. Without her uniform, she couldn't act without compromising her identity. Her hands were officially tied; she was helpless.

She just wanted to get some damned groceries!

She could still sense the other nine shoppers as well as the three hostile gunmen. Thankfully, the store was operating on self-checkout and there were no-terrified cashiers to add to the mix. What were they planning? What would cause three people to want to rob a supermarket this early in the morning? There was no regret or even guilt from any of them. A woman was dead and none of them held any remorse for their actions!

"Watchtower, please respond," she whispered, voice barely above a breath.

 _ **"We hear you Flower-child,"**_ Shayera soothed.

 _ **"Bloom, can you tell us what's happening?"**_ J'onn asked.

"I can try…"

"Go ahead."

Zemirah reached out again to find the life forces in the compound. Two of the gunmen had found and drug two of the civilians towards the doors; the third one keeping his weapon trained on them. She could hear a young man asking why they were doing this.

"They're taking hostages," she whispered. "Aside from me there's only five other shoppers left. It'll only be a matter of time until they find me."

 _ **"Bloom Blaster! Hang on, the twins and I are on our way. ETA eight minutes."**_

The sound of M'gann's voice almost brought her to tears. She breathed in as deeply as she dared and sighed in relief. Suddenly, she was picked up Zemirah could only obey as she was grabbed viciously by the arm and yanked up by one of the crooks. Caucasian, short strawberry blond hair, bearded, mid-to late thirties. Empty green eyes. He half dragged her to the front of the store with another civilians. A dark-skinned young man who couldn't be more than twenty. He was currently telling the mom who was holding her crying child that it would be okay. The man was broad and would probably be much taller than her if he could stand up. The villain brought her next to him and forced her down to her knees. Zemirah closed her eye, wishing she could just punch the crook in the face. However, she remained motionless and stared.

"Hey, you alright?"

Zemirah turned at the voice going in her direction. She turned to the man who had tried to console the mother and child. He _definitely_ couldn't be much older than twenty. His face was kind, and he was trying to be calm; but Zemirah could sense the panic that came and went.

"I'm fine, a bit manhandled, but fine."

"Good to know. Name's Mal."

"I'm Zemirah."

The two went quiet as another shopper was dragged kicking and screaming to the front. A teenager, no older than fifteen and chopped platinum blonde hair and several ear-piercings. She screamed at them, demanding to be let go.

"Sons of-"

"Are you okay?" Zemirah asked.

"I'm fine," she answered. "It's just that these _bastards_ need to let us go!"

The blonde spat at the gunman trained on them and he stared back. Thankfully he didn't keep his finger on the trigger of the rifle in his hands so Zemirah let herself relax a fraction.

"Good, my name's Zemirah. The big guy is Mal."

"I'm Mariana," the blonde introduced.

"Rebecca."

The other three looked over at the woman who was cradling her son and saw frightened brown eyes framed by titan red hair.

"My name's Rebecca. And my son is Laurence."

Laurence was sniffling and holding unto his mother for dear life, only his chestnut hair was visible.

"Laurence?" Zemirah called gently.

The boy didn't turn but he was suddenly more alert.

"Laurence, listen to me. You're gonna be okay, alright?" She looked around at the others, putting on her most confident face.

"We're all gonna be okay."

"You must be all kinds of brave," Mariana snorted.

" _Fortis Fortuna adiuvat_ , my friend," Zemirah said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Fortune favors the bold," Mal said.

The two looked over at him, eyes wide.

"You speak Latin?" Zemirah asked

"Took a couple classes in high school. Nothing special."

Before anyone could say anything else, the doors opened, almost immediately the gunman turned to fire, only to see nothing. Zemirah bit her lip to keep from smirking. The cavalry had arrived. As the doors slid closed the crook looked back at the group, making sure none moved so much as an inch out of line.

 _ **Zemirah, how many are still free?**_ Miss Martian asked.

 _Aside from the five of us? Only five more._ Zemirah answered. _Whatever you guys are planning, you'd better do it fast. I have no guess on their intentions. Can you…?_

 _ **Already on it.**_

M'gann went offline for a few moments as she read the first gunman's mind. Zemirah looked over at the others trying to figure what she could do.

 _ **Zemirah, I can't figure out what they want. Its like his mind's totally blank. I can't read it.**_

 _What?_

 _ **I said, I can't read his mind. Its blank.**_

 _Could they be under some kind of hypnosis?_

 _ **It's possible.**_

 __ _Check the other two._

She sensed Miss Martian fly off to find the others. She could only sit and wait, staring head with determination in her eyes.

"You alright there Zemirah?"

"Other than being taken hostage? I'm fine," she quipped.

"Just asking, you looked like you zoned out for a minute there."

"Do you think anyone already called the…" Mariana asked.

"Maybe," Zemirah answered, already knowing what she meant.

They didn't dare say police, not knowing what would set these people off and get themselves all killed. Zemirah tried to get some kind of gauge on the one ready to shoot them at any given moment, but aside from a vague sense of determination, lack of self-preservation, and even a slight willingness to die; there was little she could find that could give her a hint. They might not be doomed, but she did not like the situation one bit. She was pulled out of her thoughts by M'gann's voice

 _ **They haven't found the others yet. Listen, their minds are blank too.**_

 _Oh, no. I don't like any of this_.

 _ **That makes two of us. We're still not sure what we're going to do. If they are hypnotized, it'll be difficult to apprehend any of them without putting you all at risk.**_

 _Are you willing to link the minds of the hostages?_

 **No.t** _ **You know why.**_

 _Well that doesn't make it any easier._

 _ **You know my reasons. Do you think you can get everyone to duck when I say when?**_

 _Give me a minute._

Zemirah turned to the others, Laurence had calmed down and was now looking at her and Mal curiously. Mal was staring over at the old lady with sadness. Mariana was glaring at their captor with pure hatred.

"Mal?" Zemirah whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Tell Rebecca that when I say the word she and Laurence need to duck. Okay?"

"Why-?"

"Mal," Zemirah stressed. "Just tell her."

"You have a plan?"

"I know what to do."

 _ **Zemirah, hurry! They just found two more.**_

 _Working on it! Any luck with the other two?_

 _ **No. I've been trying to read them without letting them know I'm there! There's only so much I can do!**_

 _Alright lemme just let the other one in on the plan... Good grief._

Zemirah turned to Mariana, who looked about ready to start a fight. Zemirah had no doubt that she was angry enough to try, but it was a battle she would lose. Mariana was an average teenage girl, and frankly; unless she was a metahuman, or secretly an undercover military SEAL, it was doubtful she could hold her own in a fight against a burly guy with a rifle.

"Mariana," Zemirah hissed.

The young blonde snapped her head at the sound of her name, grabbing the attention of their captor. Zemirah waited a moment as he stared at them before concluding they were doing nothing of prevalence to himself. Zemirah let out a silent sigh of relief before speaking again, her voice soft and gentle.

"Mariana, I need you to duck when I say the word."

"Why?" the girl hissed.

"Just trust me!" Zemirah hissed back.

"Trust you? _I just met you!_ "  
"It's either trust me, or risk death. And frankly, I'd rather you and I survive this fiasco. So if you would be so kind as to listen and duck when I say when, that would be awesome!"

Zemirah's final argument was met with a huff of annoyance, but also grudging acceptance. She could do nothing more but sit tight and wait for the signal. She wasn't waiting long.

 _ **Zemirah, now!**_

"HIT THE DECK!"


	19. Immediate

Mount Justice|

March 12th, 2016|

8:16 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah pushed Mariana to the ground as she put herself between the teen and the rest of the world. Soon after her command rang out everyone ducked down. With all of them face down, Zemirah took the risk of shielding them in a crystal dome. Shots rang out and twin battle cries sounded. In under three minutes, the din went blessedly quiet.

"Do you think it's safe to get up now?" a small, shaky voice asked.

"Hang on," Mal said.

Out of the corner of her eye, Zemirah had noted that Mal had taken it on himself to shield Rebecca even as she protected Laurence. She couldn't help but smile as she saw it. Then she quickly dissipated the crystal and Mal lifted his head without issue. With any luck, he didn't notice it.

"Is everyone okay?"

Zemirah almost cried in relief as she heard M'gann's voice, her _actual_ voice asking everybody. Mariana began laughing hysterically, ghosts of terror finally seizing her. Zemirah carefully pulled her into a sitting position, wiping the tears from her face.

"Easy Mariana, it's okay," she soothed.

Miss Martian helped Mal off the floor. Meanwhile Black Dragon was grouping the three no-longer-armed gunmen, and Pink Cougar was searching for the other shoppers. Mal turned to Miss Martian.

"Aside from a few bruises, I think everyone's fine, Miss M-"

Miss Martian stared at Mal, eyes curious. In all actuality, she was _panicking_. Zemirah couldn't understand why.

"Megan?"

 _Oh._ That's why.

"I'm sorry?" Miss Martian said being sure to sound confused. "I think you have me confused for someone else."

"Uh… Where's the old lady?" Zemirah suddenly and very loudly asked.

Mal, Mariana, Rebecca, and Laurence all stared at the area the white-haired old woman who'd been shot once occupied. Her corpse was _gone_. There wasn't even blood on the floor.

"Well," Mal said after a long, long look. "I am never shopping here again."

Zemirah nodded mutely. Rebecca simply stared at the spot in shock. She had covered Laurence's eyes, but could not look away herself. Zemirah could tell that this incident would stay with her for a long time. It was at that moment Pink Cougar returned with the others. There was a tall young woman with dark skin cropped brown hair, another woman of the same age with pale skin, blue eyes and short black hair. Behind them, there was a brown-haired man clinging to his teenage daughter. And behind them there was a scared teenage boy with long light brown hair. Zemirah looked at the father and daughter, and then back at Mariana. The two were definitely twins.

"Lili!"

"Ana!"

Mariana bounded up to her long-haired counterpart, and their father embraced the two, sagging in relief.

"Sam!" Rebecca shouted.

The teenage boy perked up at the name and ran towards Rebecca. She held on tight to both her and Laurence. Laurence perked up and clung tightly to his older brother. The first two young women ran up to Mal, the black girl hugging him so tightly, Zemirah worried his breathing would be hindered. The girl with black hair was soon dragged into their embrace, relief flooding from all three of them.

 _ **Zemirah, I need you to distract them.**_

 _Why?_

 _ **They're my former classmates and Mal almost recognized me!**_

 _Oh. Oh, no… Okay give me a second._

Zemirah didn't get the chance as the three former attackers slowly came to, drawing the attention of other shoppers as well as active supers. However, all three were panicking, confused, and scared. This didn't make any sense.

 _M'gann, try reading their minds now._

M'gann looked at the three suspiciously and read them. Surprised when their memories did not match their previous actions. Something was wrong.

"Do you know where you are?"

The three men looked at each other, eyes wide in confusion and fear.

"Do you know where you are?" M'gann repeated, voice gentle but firm.

The middle one, with strawberry blond hair shook his head.

"Do you remember what you were doing five minutes ago?"

This time another moved his head, Zemirah could see his lips moving, but no sound came out. She tried lip reading, but she could recognize no words.

"I- I think he's mute!"


	20. Now What?

Happy Harbor|

March 12th, 2016|

10:47 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like millions of years, victims and witnesses were released. The police however kept the gunmen, who were indeed mute, in for questioning. One of the officers in particular felt utterly idiotic reading them their Miranda rights. Zemirah had felt like slapping him. Thankfully, she managed to evade the press that had inevitably shown up and slipped into an alley without being seen.

"Well I guess that happened," Zemirah sighed to herself, place leaning on the wall watching the police cars roll away.

"You're alright though, yeah?" Pink Cougar asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just kinda mad I couldn't get our groceries."

"…We should head back."

" _With_ no food."

"Well, they've eaten breakfast."

"How? The fridge is nearly empty."

"I had Flash get something when Hawkgirl called us in. Everyone is fed, don't worry."

Zemirah nearly collapsed in utter relief.

"Oh, thank the Lord."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 12th, 2016|

11:11 AM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"Are you okay?"

Zemirah looked up at Dick's concerned face and nodded. He, Orin, Barry, Artemis, Raven, Connor, Wally, and Kaldur were still eating fast food breakfast Barry had gotten them earlier. The eight of them all looked at her with varying degrees of concern.

"Just shaken is all."

"Yeah, I can imagine. You look like I did when I had to help a woman deliver her baby."

The entire room froze and all eyes were on Dick. Artemis especially looked confused. But perhaps the most comical reactions were that of the still toddler-fied Kaldur and Wally. Wally's eyes were wide and near cross-eyed and Kaldur seemed to be reacting to _Wally's face_ rather than Dick's statement, with brows furrowed and mouth quirked in puzzlement.

"Hold up, so you're telling me that _you_ helped deliver a _kid_? Like with ten fingers and ten toes and everything in between? An actual living, breathing _baby_?" Flash asked, eyes wide.

"Was that not the implication when I said that I helped a woman deliver her baby?" Dick asked, genuinely confused.

"What concerns me the most is the still unknown circumstances of _why_ you had to play midwife," Zemirah said, staring incredulously at their leader.

"Burning building."

" _What_! When was that?"

"Uh… I think I was eight or nine… _maybe_."

Zemirah though she would faint. The idea was just too much. A nine-year-old Robin kneeling before a screaming woman in labor pains and attempting to help her give birth…

"I think of all the things I've been through this morning… That image alone is the most jarring… forget the disappearing lady."

"What 'disappearing lady'?" Artemis asked.

"…I am never shopping at that store ever again, and we can leave it at that."

"Alright, so we have a probably haunted 7/11, an unlicensed midwife, and Chica who got caught up in a held-up grocery store; all before noon," Barry said, picking up his tiny nephew and holding him close. "And to top it off, these two are still itty-bitty. This day doesn't seem to be going all that well."

"Well, hang on to your scarlet onesie Bartholomew, because this day is about to get a whole lot better!" Zemirah announced. "Rae, do you still have the scroll?"

Without missing a beat, Raven opened and small white portal and pulled said scroll from it's depths. The portal closed and it floated over to Zemirah, who took it from the air.

"Thank you."

"What the heck is that?" Artemis asked incredulously.

"This, my dearest Artemis, is hope," Zemirah responded cheekily

"That looks awfully small to be hope," Dick joked in return.

"You won't say that when I'm done."

Zemirah opened the scroll and began to read:

 _Members of the Justice League, I hope this message finds you well. I believe I can assist you with your magic related issues._

"Um… _Who_ the heck sent this again?" Flash asked, tugging Wally's thumb from his mouth.

"No name. Now let me finish."

 _Forgive me for not contacting you sooner; I have been preoccupied with things that could not be dismissed. But I am free to assist you now and will gladly do so. If you would kindly meet me at the address below, I will gladly help you in any way I can._

"Well that's not mysterious at all." Flash said.

"What is the address?" Aquaman asked.

"Um… 165 Avenue A, New York, New York 10009 East Village."

Artemis almost let Kaldur slip from her lap as her eyes widened almost comically. She snatched Kaldur up before he fell but then looked back at Zemirah with surprise.

"That… that's Zatanna's old address."

Zemirah could feel a sudden rise in suspicion across the room and corresponding fear from Kaldur and Wally. Zemirah herself, however, found that she could find no suspicion in the message at all. In fact, if her hunch was right, it would be the best news she'd heard in a week.

"Is it really not that obvious who the sender is?""

Negativity and resounding nods.

"Oh my g- Guys! It could only be Sindella!"

Zemirah felt the incredulity before she heard it.

"What!"

"Are you crazy?"

"No."

"Uh…"

Barry, Artemis, Dick, and Raven all had varying emotions and volumes in their responses, but none of them were really agreeing with her sentiment.

"Zemirah, you know your optimism is always appreciated, but this is just ridiculous."

"Like ridiculous things happening to us isn't the norm?"

The room went quiet.

"Mmm-hm, you know I'm right."

"We should still be cautious," Dick insisted.

"I realize that, but you do realize that this is the only ray of hope we've gotten since Rae has declared the spell a botched mishap that can only be waited out? If any one of you has a better idea, you should really speak up."

No answer.

"Alright, alright, fine," Dick said. "You win. But we're doing this my way."

"I would expect nothing less."


End file.
